Discovering the Secret
by Sammehnz
Summary: Rose meets Dimitri in Russia when she moves to live with her mom and new husband, not knowing the existence of vampires. What happens when Dimitri and Rose are instantly drawn to each other? Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

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**Hey, so here is my new story! I spend seriously ages looking through VA fanfictions to make sure this was completely different, and it is! Yay! hehe I also spend ages on the internet researching Russia so that my story is accurate!  
I don't want to give away the plot but Rose meets Dimitri when she moves to Russia after her mother remarries. Rose doesn't know about the vampire world yet.  
Please Please Please give it a chance! Review and tell me if I should continue or stop.  
Thank you x**

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**Chapter 1**

Sixteen. That's how old I was when mom decided to leave dad.

Seventeen. That's how old I was when mom decided she could drag me away from everything I knew, everything I loved. She pulled me, kicking and screaming, from Montanna and dumped me in Russian with her scabby new husband and two bitchy daughters.

I guess she moves on quick, huh?

Technically, I wasn't 'dumped' in Russia yet, but I failed to see how being on a plane headed there made anything better. Mom was so slack that she hadn't even arranged for me to get picked up.

I had to find my way to the train station -the helpful lady in the seat next to me provided that information- and then take it all the way to the outskirts of Omsk. What's worse is that I didn't even know Russia had running water until a few minutes ago.

The trip was seriously long, which only gave my mind more of an opportunity to think over how my life would suck from here on.

I had been able to knock myself out for most of the trip, sleeping so heavily I missed the airline lunch, which was probably not a bad thing considering how crappy airline food was. Normal airline food was pretty suspicious, but I couldn't even stomach it to imagine what they would serve up in a Russian plane.

Being unconscious for the trip was good, but now I had to endure the last half hour with my mind fully refreshed and clear. _Great_.

Moving a seventeen year old girl out of school near the start of Senior year and throwing her into a foreign school to finish it out is just beyond cruel.

Never mind that I might have wanted to stay with my dad. No. It was mom's way or the highway, and apparently that highway lead straight to this hell hole.

I was going to be forced to make new friends, which proved difficult wherever I went because none of the other girls ever liked me all that much.

My lunchtimes were destined to being a loner with people speaking in their confusing language around me, most likely about the new girl who was a loner.

I hadn't even met her new husband and his daughters, but somewhere, deep in my mind I knew they would be unbearable.

A faint chiming broke me out of my daydreaming and I glanced up to see the seatbelt light blinking.

I pulled up my tray and secured it back to the seat in front of me, clipping my seatbelt in and glancing our the window.

Okay, so _maybe_ it wasn't a hellhole. It was sort of pretty in a way. There were no clouds in the sky and I could see the city already. It stumped me with its size. I had thought Russia would be all tiny little villages, not big cities -apart from Moscow- but further inspection showed that beyond the obvious city, civilization suffered.

I could see the faint line of train tracks cutting through the wild terrain and little groupings of buildings, but they didn't hold much of my desire.

I watched as the runway came closer and closer, and we touched down with barely a bump. Russian's may live in a strange country, but they were good pilots.

We were instructed to remain in our seats while the pilot idled, doing the thing they always do before letting passengers off. I wasn't in a hurry to get off and accept my new home, so I waited patiently until we were given the okay.

The lady next to me got up and passed my handbag from the overhead compartment down to me with a kind smile. She walked me through the hanger and into the luggage retrieval section.

"The station is just outside the car park." She directed me in her heavily accented voice, but at least she spoke English. She pointed out the automatic doors while I pulled the handle bar out of my bag. "Will you be okay?" She asked, her face contorted with worry.

I'd be worried too if I was in her position, seeing a young girl all by herself in a foreign country.

"Yes, thank you." I smiled at her and began walking to the station.

I reached it easily and went up to the ticket window.

"здравствуйте, что я могу сделать для Вас?" The young guy behind the counter spoke, smiling blankly, like it was part of his job description to always smile.

"Ah shit." I muttered, looking around to try get an idea on how to explain where I was needing to go. "I…uhh…" I frowned at how hard this was going to be, just as I tried again, he grinned.

"I speak English."

"Oh, thank God." I sighed, breathing out a relived laugh. "I need to go to the outskirts of Omsk." I spoke slowly, handing over my money.

I knew I probably made him feel like he was special needs, but hey, he could speak English, that didn't mean he was a genius or very good at it.

He took the money and handed me a ticket and change. "Get off at stage three."

"Thank you." I smiled politely and wheeled my bag through the now open gate.

I stumbled through it and onto the platform. There were a few people here already, some in groups, some alone.

That's when I saw him. When my life started.

He was leaning up against the back wall in a sort of rebel stance. I don't know whether it was his warm brown hair hanging to his chin, his tan skin and intensity or something else, but I found myself instantly drawn to him.

It was strange. As if up until now I had been asleep, or letting life just pass without caring or paying attention. But the person, this complete _stranger_ made me feel so many contradictory things all at once. I felt excited and worried. Anxious and completely at peace. Confident and unsure. My entire self was being torn separate ways, and it seemed the only way to keep me all together was to be near him.

This was weird for me. I had had boyfriends, and actually liked flirting with most people.

I pulled my eyes away from him reluctantly and went to sit down in the groupings of seats, directly in front of him.

Once I was settled, I allowed myself one look back at him. His height alone was startling, he must have been about six foot seven but not lanky in any way, yet not bulky either. Much too old for me, I told myself even though I could not ignore my eyes desire to examine every detail of him. The way his brown hair, a bit lighter than my dark brown hair, was hanging sort of messily around his face, but not scruffy looking.

Or how his skin was a radiant, even tan, warm and smooth. Or the soft brown of his eyes, that were staring back at me, equally as examining.

It took me a few moments to react but with a stammer, I dragged my eyes away from his hold and turned back to the front. As the blush crept up my neck and into my cheeks, I couldn't help but consider that I had seen a smirk on his perfect lips.

I was suddenly extremely self conscious of how I looked from behind, which was stupid and totally weird for me too. I wasn't up myself, but I wasn't in denial either.

I knew I was pretty to other people.

But he was far too old -early twenties maybe- and wouldn't be interested in a stupid little schoolgirl with a broken family. I tried not to be hurt by that fact when I gathered myself up as the train shuddered to a halt in front of me. Walking on, I discovered it was a multi stage route -which I probably should have figured out when the ticket guy told me to get off at stage three- and there was hardly any seats left.

I went over to a man with a newspaper and brief case, asking if I could sit in one of the spare seats next to him. He looked me over then grunted before returning to his reading, I guess he could have not spoken English and had no idea what I was on about, but I thought differently, he was just a typical snob.

They're a friendly bunch here in Russia.

I sat with my big bag at my feet, handbag on my lap, playing with the flayed edges and keeping to myself as someone scooted into the seat on the other side of me, a waft of a smell so beautifully sweet, yet not feminine entered my nose right at that moment. The doors shut and the train stammered at first then began its course.

I subtly let my eyes drift sideways -to see who could smell so intoxicatingly earthy and rich- and into the strangely familiar brown eyes that were staring straight ahead. Staring into them, I realised I would never forget them, and that I had been stupid to consider the aroma coming from anyone else. They conveyed such secrecy, yet openness when they were turned on me for that short moment in the station.

It was comforting.

It was stupid.

But I couldn't help my heart doing a tight squeeze of relief that he had taken _this _train, and taken _this _seat. Hell! That I had _come _to Russia.

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******Please review and tell me what you think! I need to know if I have my mojo back hehe. Thank you x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for reviewing so quickly, I love reading them! So hopefully this chpater will give you more insight about the story. Please review! Suggestions are great too!  
Here's chapter 2! Thank you x**

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****Chapter 2**

I snapped my eyes back before he could realise I was staring, trying to act casual, but it was too late. How could anyone ever act casual next to someone so incredibly gorgeous?

As the train started to speed up, I saw a man coming around, checking people's tickets. I instantly started to panic, fumbling around to find mine.

Where had I put it?

"Here." A low, slightly accented voice spoke, a tan hand flashing down to the ground and pulling back up with a white piece of paper. "I think you dropped this."

His voice matched perfectly with his face. It was slightly husky but still smooth as velvet and very gentle. Strange.

I took the ticket from him gratefully, trying to stop my hand from shaking.

"Thank you." I smiled shyly, what the hell was wrong with me. I was _never_ shy. "How did you know I don't speak Russian?" I asked, the cynical part of my mind questioning if he had stalker tendencies.

He flashed me a perfect, partly counselling smile and held his ticket out to the guy coming around. Once both of ours had been checked and the guy moved along, he continued.

"You don't look like you come from here. It's not that you don't look like you could be Russian, you just look…not from around here." He smiled almost sheepishly, running a hand through his hair.

"At least you noticed." I mumbled. "Why couldn't the ticket guy have figured that out sooner?" I asked, suddenly regretting my mumbling, now he would definitely think I was just a little girl.

Instead, he smiled again. Despite the amount of times he smiled, I felt like he didn't usually do it all that much.

"That's why he's working in a ticket office." He smirked, his eyes glinting with dark humour.

I laughed at that. And then he laughed too. Kind of. It was only quick and quiet, almost a laugh you do in an awkward situation, but it would be something I would not forget.

The sound was addictive.

We fell silent, both looking down. After a few moments, it stopped being awkward.

"So…" That same voice spoke softly, and I noticed how hot his accent was. "What's a young girl like you doing stuck in Russia?"

My eyes darted back to his, I tried to play cool even though I was practically hyperventilating that he was actually talking to me. Why was I reacting like such a retard?

I looked back in front of me -trying to be cool and confident- breathing in deeply for a few moments before exhaling.

"…Being stuck in Russia" I turned my face slightly towards him. _Stupid answer_ I cussed myself.

He considered this, his eyes calculating off to the side before fixing back on mine, "Oh, it's like that, is it?"

"You have no idea" I breathed out a laugh lacking the humour.

When I glanced back at him, his eyes were almost compassionate, a sad smile stretching out his perfect lips.

"Well, why are you stuck in Russia?" He spoke in that addictive voice, that I could listen to it forever, that made my heard pound in my chest and my pulse drone loud in my ears.

"My mom left my dad," I began, seemingly not even aware that he was a total stranger, I felt as though I had known him my entire life, at least, I knew I _wanted _to, "She found someone else. So she up and yanked me across from Montana and chucked me here when she remarried."

"Montana? You used to live there?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah." I nodded, turning back to play with the strap on my bag. "You've been there?" I asked.

"Yes. I live there. My job is there." He spoke, staring far off ahead of him, not really at anything in particular.

"You aren't from here?"

"I was born here, yes. But moved to Montana for my job, I am visiting my family while I have the chance. They live in a village called Baia, it is the fourth stage of this train." He turned to smile at me. It seemed weird to be having such a personal conversation with him.

"Oh." I said stupidly, remembering how I had looked at the groupings of villages from the plane, not having any desire to visit them, now maybe I did, just a little.

I hadn't realised I had been twirling my ticket absently through my fingers until it fleeted through my grasp and floated back to the floor.

I heard a low chuckle as he reached for it again, this time having to lean partly in front of me. The long hair covering his neck fell forward with the movement to reveal a series of strangely familiar tattoos. There was a swirling line at the top, extending horizontally and sort of resembling an eye. Below that, there were six individual tattoos, each like two thunderbolts crossed into an 'x.'

"Where'd you get your tattoos done?" I asked, not realising how rude -or abrupt- it sounded until it was out.

He froze for a split second before recovering his composure and sitting up, handing me my ticket again.

"A tattoo parlor." He smiled quickly, so quickly it sort of made me suspicious. "Why?" He asked, his eyes shifting around nervously.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

I could have kicked myself for being such a dick. I shrugged my shoulders and tried to regain any ounce of dignity I may have left.

"It's just that my Mom has the same ones."

"Really?" He asked, confusion colouring his tone heavily.

I nodded slowly, not really sure about the source of his reaction. I hadn't ever really asked my mom about her tattoos. I just figured she had got it done when she was younger i had seen photos, she even cropped her hair short so you could see them, although it was grown out now.

"On the back of her neck, too." I added, was it some kind of cult thing?

He stared at me for a while, his face wrinkled in thought as he flicked his eyes around my face.

"Sorry." He apologized quickly, snapping his eyes back and avoiding mine. "It's just such a coincidence."

"Yeah." I said.

_Sure_ it was. There was something seriously weird going on here, but I couldn't think for the life of me what it could be.

I should probably be more concerned than I was about the tattoo thing, but in the presence of him, there were much more important things to be thinking about.

I smiled at him as if it was nothing and we started talking again, easily and tense free.

I could not believe this was happening. Part of me didn't believe it. I completely expected to wake up any minute and find myself depressed that I had not just met the hottest guy on Earth. If he was real, then he probably has a girlfriend, maybe even a wife if he was the age I suspected. I smiled at him anyway, unable to stop myself, and his answering smile was striking.

We talked the whole trip, like we were old friends instead of complete strangers.

Even though I knew it was foolish and useless, I couldn't help but ask.

"How old are you?"

He seemed almost hesitant but then answered, "Twenty-four." He smiled at my shock, even though he looked that old, he seemed too put together to be so young, "And yourself?"

I was tempted to lie and say I was older, just add maybe a year or two, but I knew it would bite me in the arse one day most likely.

"Seventeen" I admitted in defeat.

He smiled back, staring at me for a few seconds. When I stared back with a puzzled look, he seemed to snap back to reality from wherever he had been, and stammered over what to say, something I thought impossible for him.

"So, who do I owe this pleasure to?" He recovered with a smirk, holding his hand out to me.

"... Rose… like the… um…" I stuttered out and took his hand. When our hands connected, a shock passed through me, so strong I knew he must have felt it. That kind of thing just doesn't go unnoticed. "…rose." I finished lamely.

_Rose, like the rose. _What the hell was that about?

"Between two thorns?" He gestured to himself and the guy next to me, his smirk deepening, his accent making the words sound deep and rich. I instantly found myself drooling all over them.

"You're not so bad, Comrade." I smirked back, grinning at my quick wittedness, now that's the Rose I know.

Despite the extreme awesomeness of my come back, I had no idea where the nickname came from. My heart skipped a beat for a second while I wondered what he would think of it.

His slow smile proved that I shouldn't have been worried.

"Hmmm, well, Roza," He smiled, his accent sounded so incredible on my name. I gave him an expectant look. "It's the Russian way of saying Rose." He explained quickly, before his eyes examined me, I think he was wondering how I would react too. "I'm Dimitri, like the thorn." And then he brought my hand to his mouth, sweeping his lips over my shaking knuckles.

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**Thank you for reading! Tell me what you think! Review! xx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is chapter 3! Thank you so much for all your awesome reviews! I love writing hehe. If there is something in my writing that is crappy please tell me =) I'll try and fix it.  
For all the questions you have asked, I really really really want to answer them, but it will kind of ruin the plot. I have it all mapped out and all your questions will be answered =)  
One I can answer is that Janine's new husband is not Dimitri's father.  
****Thank you! Happy reading!**  
**x**

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**Chapter 3**

When the train jerked to a stand still, I tried my best to keep the pout off my face. Dimitri got up swiftly, taking my handbag from my lap and holding his hand out once more to help me up, very gentlemanly.

Dimitri. It felt better now to finally put a name to the face I would never forget. It was an unusual name, well maybe in Russia it wasn't, but to me it was strange, yet alluring in a way I can not describe. It fitted him perfectly.

It struck me that he had said he was getting off on the fourth stage, not the third, but I took his hand anyway, eager to feel the almost electric shock again, and got up. Neither one of us seemed to want to let our hands be apart, his fingers were curled around mine firmly, and I was clinging on to him as well. I looked up into his eyes to see them staring back down at me with a strange expression, one I could not put my finger on.

This brought him back to reality again and he seemed to notice our hands were still connected.

He dropped my hand and extended the other with my handbag in it towards me. Once I had taken it, he wheeled my bigger bag over to the exit and lifted it to the ground for me.

"Where are you headed?" He asked, remaining on the train as other people filed out beside him.

"Umm…" I began, searching in my handbag for the address I had scrawled onto a piece of paper hastily. "This street." I added, handing him the paper.

Once he had taken it and his eyes were examining my messy handwriting, I realised it was probably not wise to be telling a stranger where I was living. Before I could worry any more, he smiled and handed the paper back.

"Once you leave the station and reach the main road, you will see it on your left." He directed, gesturing behind me.

"Thank you. I'll see you again." I spoke softly, trying to make it not sound like a desperate question, and miserably failing.

"Yes, Roza." He murmured, lifting my hand to his lips once more.

I breathed in a shaky breath as they skimmed my knuckles.

"Bye, Comrade." I spoke confidently, trying to show he hadn't phased me.

He smiled once more and stepped back, allowing the train doors to close and speed off.

I stood there for a while, just staring after the train, watching as it speed towards wilderness.

"Yep." I muttered under my breath. "Not seeing him again."

I sighed and turned, following his directions.

I wheeled my suitcase out through the ticket office gate, getting a burst of Russian lingo from the guy behind the counter.

I pretended like I couldn't hear him.

Why for the love of God, could no one else seem to notice I didn't speak Russian, when Dimitri had? I swear I should have a sticker on my forehead telling the world, just to clear things up.

I huffed along to the main road, then turned left like Dimitri had said to.

So, yes, my first impression of Russia was entirely wrong.

They did - in fact- have running water. I hadn't seen proof of that per say, but Dimitri had smelt super good so running water was the logical answer.

And when they could speak English, they were very polite.

I kept stumbling along the road for what seemed like forever until I finally came to a house with the number I had been given. I crossed the road carefully, still not being able to investigate how Russian's were at driving, and walked up the porch stairs, drumming my fist on the door.

I waited a few moments while I heard shuffling behind the door and then it finally clicked open.

"Hey, Mom." I said quickly, ducking in the door before she could register who I was.

"How was you're flight?" She asked, closing the door and locking it.

"Good." I said vaguely, dumping my bags and falling onto one of the sofas in the lounge.

Mom followed in after me, sitting on one of the near by ones. It was kind of awkward for a bit, so I sat up to look at her.

"Do you know a place called Baia?" I asked, adjusting the pillows on the couch before looking back at her. Her mouth was set in a grim line as she looked at me.

"There is no such place. Why?" She asked tightly.

Touchy subject much?

"I met this guy on the-"

"You always meet guys." She cut me off, trying to avoid the subject, I think. But that back fired and just made me all the more curious.

I gave her a dirty look and continued. "I met this guy on the train, Dimitri." As I said his name, I tried to not think about him too much for fear of going all goo-goo eyed. "He was coming here to visit his family in Baia from Montana." I continued, hoping I had remembered the name correctly. "He had the same tattoo's as you too, the ones on your neck."

If I had thought her face was grim before, it was like death warmed up now. Her entire frame had gone rigid, but she shook it off, seeming to try act too unaffected, but I wasn't fooled.

"How old was he?" She asked in a sort of way that was like she was trying to _appear _to change the subject, but wasn't really.

"Twenty-four." I told her honestly, forgetting that even though she wasn't a good one, she was still a mother.

"Rose-" She groaned, shaking her head.

"Chill, will you? We are just friends." I told her, getting up and walking into the kitchen. Everything in this house was open and flowing, kind of weird.

"But you won't be anymore. You are not to see him again, or go anywhere near Baia." She followed me, telling me sternly with her finger jabbing at me like a threat. I ignored her obvious attempt at parental authority and picked up a rosy apple from the bowl on the counter.

"Thought it didn't exist." I replied casually, taking a bite.

"It doesn't." She spoke back quickly.

"Mm-hmm." I mumbled sarcastically around my bite of apple. "Ew, Russia needs new apples." I told her, throwing my bitten apple into a bin I saw by the counter as I walked back towards my bags.

"Rose!" She continued the lecture, following me.

"Where is my room?" I asked, ignoring her lecture. I loved winding her up.

"Rosemarie! You are not to see him! Or go to Baia!" She shouted up the stairs I had already begun to climb with my bags.

"Sure thing. I take it left is mine?" I called back, taking a nosy in all the rooms.

I heard her huff loudly from downstairs, mentally picturing how she would be standing, pinching the bridge of her nose, like always.

"Yes, Rose." She sighed again.

I smiled, satisfied with myself and chucked my stuff on the double bed. The room was small, but not enough to make me claustrophobic. The double bed took up a lot of the space, with an end table on the window side. There was a desk opposite with a pretty busted up looking computer, a few picture frames arranged.

I noticed none of them were of Dad.

I spent some time in my new room, setting all my stuff in and trying to make it as homely as possible. But I knew it never could be.

I collapsed down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling for a while before deciding I'd better get over my jetlag sooner rather than later.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review please! hehe Thank you x**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for reviewing and story alerting this! And to those who added it as a favourite story and author. It makes me want to cry haha.  
Anyway, here is chapter two, hopefully you like it =)  
Review please! Thank you x**

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**Chapter 4**

I must have gotten in a few descent hours of sleep before I heard Mom calling for me to come downstairs.

_Great._ Meet the in-laws time.

I groaned as I swung my legs over the side of my bed and headed for the door, combing my fingers through my messed up hair. I stumbled down the stairs slowly, watching my feet carefully because knowing me, I would fall on my arse in front of my new 'family.'

I hadn't noticed how low the ceiling was over the stairs, beams running along it at intervals.

I stepped down carelessly from the last step and smacked my head straight into one of those beams.

_Now _I noticed them.

"Ow." I grunted, rubbing my forehead as I heard some snickering from in the lounge.

"Oh, watch out for the beams." Mom told me quickly, I raised my eyes to glare at her.

"You don't think you could have warned me _before_?"

"I was too busy trying to contact the government and tell them their apples suck." She countered smoothly, her face not showing the smugness I knew she was feeling.

I laughed sarcastically at her and went to plonk myself onto one of the empty couches, glancing at the two girls occupying another couch.

Oh God.

I could tell they were sisters. They had the same tanned skin and dark, empty eyes. One, the younger one most likely, was plus sized. Well, super-sized more like. She had too-black hair, arranged into a messy disarray around her moon-like face, which clearly she had been attempting to drown her acne in a full bottles worth of foundation.

The other was slimmer, yet still quite 'rounded' with platinum blonde -and major re-growth- hair. It was a horrible colour on anyone, a sort of yellowy white, but mixed with her tanned skin and dark eyes, it made for a horrible combination.

The girls weren't ugly, they just did everything you could possibly do to make yourself look trashy and nasty.

"Rose, this is Peter," Mom gestured to him the man beside her, I smiled politely as he returned it. "Kristina," She gestured to the younger of the two daughters. "And Olesya." She finished, swiftly moving her wrist to flick at the blonde.

There names weren't as unusual as I would have thought, not like Dimitri-

Why did everything have to come back to him? Because God was _cruel_.

I forced a friendly smile at the girls, only to get ignored as they both turned away from giving me the once over as well.

Well, that was it for my nice streak.

I sunk back into the crouch and crossed my legs and arms petulantly. Silence fell as we all sat there. It was a weird situation for anyone, even a dysfunctional family like mine.

"You will be going to the same school as Kristina and Olesya." Peter spoke up in a heavy accent, he wasn't as scabby as I thought, but he still had nothing on my real Dad. "It is the only one in this area and rather small." His voice got harder and harder to understand because of the accent making the words sound funny, but I guess he was trying.

I made light conversation with him, ignoring the bitches completely. When there was nothing left to discuss, I got up to check out the kitchen again.

"Oh," I began, spinning around to look into the lounge. "Is there even any point in me going to school tomorrow? It is Friday tomorrow, right?"

"Rose…" Mom sighed again, shaking her head. "It will give you an extra day to make friends."

"Это маловероятно." I heard Kristina mutter arrogantly, crossing her arms over her chest in a self-righteous way.

Peter cussed Kristina in a strange way, altering her name to sound nearly completely different. Like Dimitri calling me Roza, although it sounded more alike than his adaption of her name.

I smirked and ducked into the fridge, searching for food to satisfy my deadly hunger.

…

Before I knew it, it was night time and I was settling in for the night.

I had a shower and brushed my teeth in the bathroom in the hall, one I would obviously be sharing with Kristina and Olesya.

I had taken possession of one of the cabinets straight away. There were a few belongings in it, but not for long, I saw to that. I dumped all of it on the bench by the sink, hoping to get a pissed reaction out of the in-laws.

I ducked back into my room and shut the door firmly before slinking back into my bed.

It was cold under the sheets and I wrapped them around me tightly. I couldn't help but wonder if they would be warmer with Dimitri in them.

I huffed at the thought and rolled over, determined to get a good nights sleep before my certain chaotic day at school.

And chaotic it was.

"Rose!" I heard Mom scream while I was still in a jet-lagged, disorientated state. "Get up. You have to leave for school!"

"Ah…" I groaned, pulling myself out of bed sloppily, yanking open the curtains in hopes that the sunlight would help wake me up.

Nada.

I tugged on a pair of jeans and a top quickly, stumbling to the bathroom to find the door locked shut.

I jiggled the knob until I felt it begin to move a little loosely, deciding to stop because it seemed quite fragile. Instead I took to smacking my other fist aggressively on the door.

"Hurry up!" I shouted between knocks.

I kept drumming my fist on the door, just registering it was being opened and stopped my fist from smacking into Kristina's poorly concealed pimples.

She stammered back, giving me a dirty look and then slinking out, shoulder barging me at the same time.

I jutted my shoulder out too, sending her to smack into the door frame with a loud thud.

Where had that come from? I didn't hit her _that_ hard.

"Freak!" She cursed. Her voice horribly low for a girl, the accent making it all the more masculine.

I grinned at her mockingly and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door in her face.

I tamed my hair quickly with a comb, chucking some smoothing product on to help, courtesy of Kristina. As I brushed my teeth I looked through the rest of their stuff, seeing what was good. Yes, they may do everything wrong, but one thing they did right was buy product. The shelf was full of different bottles for hair and skin.

I read all the labels until I had to spit, then put on some make up, I had to look good on my first day. I did it lightly though, determined to not look like Kristina and her cake-face.

Once I came down stairs and finished getting ready, we still had to wait for Kristina and we were already late.

Eventually she stumbled down the stairs, looking trashy, and we all left in Peter's car.

He had given them a lecture on 'remembering what their first day was like' and to 'be nice to their new sister.'

I almost couldn't hold back my laugh at his attempts. His heart was in the right place, but I could see it going in one ear and out the other with those two.

We got to school -at 11 o clock- and piled out of the car in a lazy stampede, mumbling a 'yes' at Peter when he asked us if we had money for lunch.

Olesya and Kristin walked with me for a bit, but promptly dumped me at what was the Russian version of a student councillor's office and left quickly, as if being seen with me was a social crisis.

"Uhh, hi. I'm new here…" I said to the lady behind a desk.

She looked up at me with a friendly smile, looking swiftly down at the computer screen.

"Miss Rosemarie?" She asked, making a few clicks on the computer. Her accent was only slightly Russia, for which I was grateful.

"Your previous school has sent us over your subject options, the office has already filled out a timetable for you." She smiled again, a few more clicks and then the printer started up.

She pulled itout and handed it to me. My timetable.

Looking it over, I wanted to kick myself for missing P.E second period.

"Follow that path up to the main office. You will need to sign in there since you missed homeroom and the first two periods." She smiled again and sent me on my way.

I staggered along the way she had directed, getting a few curious glances from other students walking around the school for the morning break.

I found the office and swung the door open, stopping dead in my tracks.

A tall man stood at the counter by the far wall, his back to me as he talked to the receptionist.

A familiar, slight accented voice spoke softly, although he was speaking Russian, the urgency in his voice was clear. I heard my name, I think.

The lady behind the counter replied sincerely. It was strange how I couldn't understand what they were saying, but the emotions of their strange language were just as strong as my own.

The guy spoke again until he trailed off, seeming to be struggling for words as my face heated up. I knew this was something to do with me

"пожалуйста?" He pleaded, hanging his head. It sounded like a very desperate 'please.'

She told him something sadly before leaning to look around him at me, switching to English. "Hello, Dear. You must be the new student, yes?"

I guess she also could tell I didn't speak Russian.

At that, the tall figure turned around, eyes locking with mine instantly. I drank in all his features quickly. The beautifully tanned skin, chocolate brown eyes that had a look so intense, but relaxed when falling on my face. Long hair hanging around his chiseled face.

"Roza." And the voice that was so alluring.

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**Thank you for reading! Review and tell me what you think! I'll try upload the next chapter super fast hehe REVIEW! x  
Sorry if I sound naggy hehe =S**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for all the reviews. Sorry I'm a noob and forgot to translate the Russian stuff, thank you to SWEmicca for reminding me =) I will post it all at the bottom. Originally I was going to bring Dimitri in after a few chapters but I hate not writing about him please!  
Thank you x**

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**Chapter 5**

I stood there like a moron, staring at him for what seemed like forever, but must have only been a few seconds.

"Dimitri? What are you doing here?" I stared at him, watching as his face suddenly lightened with relief.

"Do you know this man…Rosemarie?" The receptionist asked, meanwhile clicking away on her computer too.

"Uh, yes." I told her, shock making me unable to speak normally. "He is a family friend."

"If something has happened, you two may have a seat just through there." She directed us to small office. "But you mustn't stay after the bell has rung."

"Thank you." Dimitri spoke quickly, moving over to the office.

We walked in and he turned to me, his eyes begging for understanding.

"Roza, I need you to trust me." He spoke in a hushed, urgent voice. "I know that's a unreasonable thing to ask for, but it is important." He watched my face, waiting for me to nod before continuing. "I need to take you with me to Baia, today. You are in danger. I cannot explain why right now, but it is very urgent."

I stared at him for a bit. He was right. It was unreasonable to ask me to trust him after meeting him once on a train ride, but I entirely did. I can't even say why, but I knew I had to trust him. I would have trusted him even if he hadn't said I was in danger.

"Okay." I nodded brutally, thinking everything through in my head, proving difficult as it all began merging together to become an unbearable hum. "But I can't leave yet." I told him. I had wagged school may times so I knew when and when not to leave.

The rational part of my mind was loosing out against an inner voice telling me he was safe as I stared into his strangely open eyes.

"I can't get out until lunch." I lowered my voice more, making sure we weren't overheard.

"I will be back at one to pick you up, in the car park."

"Will you explain why later?" I asked sternly, staring deep into his eyes.

He nodded curtly.

"Okay." I told him seriously, then became unable to hold back my smile. "Thank you. For coming to get me."

He looked at me intently, a slow, yet completely breath-taking smile stretched out his addictive lips.

"I didn't have a choice." He replied in a quiet whisper that I nearly didn't hear.

"What do you mean?" I whispered back, not realising we had gotten closer with our hushed conversation. I could feel his slow breaths tickling the skin of my face, especially my lips.

It made me have a desire for him that was probably illegal because of it's hotness.

"Before I knew what I was doing, I was on the first train back here." I was staring at his lips as he whispered the words, having to drag my eyes away from them to enable me to think clearly.

He stepped back a bit, not before his eyes traced over my face and halted at my lips too though. This gave me a flutter of hope in my stomach as the bell sounded throughout the school.

"I'll see you at one, Roza." He spoke quickly, skimming his fingers from my elbow to my wrist, then giving my fingers a little squeeze.

I squeezed back and we both released, walking back out into view of the receptionist.

"Bye." I told him, giving a quick wink before he pushed open the office door and left.

I walked back up to the receptionist, giving a sweet smile.

"I'll just sign you in." She spoke, squinting at the computer screen. "What's your last name, Dear?"

"Hathaway." I told her as I saw her eyes scan to my name.

"Okay, you can go to your third class now, which I belief is… Option Rec." She smiled, handing me a map of the school as well as giving rough directions on the way to the gym.

"Thank you." I told her quickly before heading towards the gym.

I had missed P.E, but at least I got to do Rec before leaving. As I walked, I couldn't keep my mind off what Dimitri had said. I couldn't really believe I wasn't even worried either.

I knew I should be, but the faith I had in Dimitri scared me more than the things he had said. He had answers to questions I hadn't even figured out I wanted answers to.

I decided to push all the worry out of my head -for now- and just enjoy what would be a good class. I pushed through the gym doors and saw a bunch of guy students and a guy teacher, but no girls.

What? Did girls not take extra P.E?

I walked up to the Coach quickly, ignoring the curious, and some openly appreciative glances, from the other students in the gym.

"I speak English." I threw my hands up, palms out like a surrender. I had decided it was better to just get that out on the table.

"I know." He laughed a bit, looking down at his roll. "You must be Rosemarie Hathaway."

"Did you figure that out when you saw I was the only girl?" I replied in an incredulous voice. It was truly pathetic that I was the only girl. "It's just Rose, by the way."

"Okay, _Rose_." He said, walking to a shelf and grabbing something.

I didn't know what it was until it slammed into my face.

"You don't have gear, do you?" He asked as I pulled the shirt and shorts off my head.

"Nope." I glared at the gear, not daring to sniff it.

"Get changed and meet back here." He told us as we all went into the changing rooms.

I got changed as fast as possible, freaking out about being in the large girls room all by myself. When I ran out, I saw everyone else doing warm up stretches, joking around in Russian. _Yay._

I dumped my stuff on a bench and walked over to the rest of the class.

"English, please." Coach said as he began marking off the rest of the guys on the roll. Once that was done, we all engaged in a game of basketball, me being thankfully assigned to the 'shirts' team.

Apparently my size caused the others to underestimate me. I had been worried that because they were all guys, they wouldn't pass to the 'lowly girl.' But I soon earned my rank amongst the guys and played as an equal.

The hour had gone quickly and I hurried to get changed, walking with a couple of the guys from class to lunch. As we walked, I glanced around casually, figuring out the quickest escape route to the car park.

One of the guys, David, directed our small group to an outdoor table and bench unit.

"You are from America?" David asked around a bit of his seriously huge sandwich.

"Yeah, Montana." I smiled at him, noticing the glares I got from other girls for the first time. My face dropped as I turned to play with the zip of my bag. It would be the same here.

"Hey, don't worry about them." One of the other guys said, seeing my expression. "They are always like that when a new girl comes to the school."

"Scared I'm going to move in on their territory?" I replied cockily, feeling at ease with the guys, as I had my entire life.

They all laughed and we talked some more. Well I did. They were fascinated with America.

When I glanced down at my phone and saw that it was five to one, I excused myself for the bathroom, but took off to the car park.

I glanced around quickly before pushing through a thick fence of hedges and into the secluded car park, just as a car pulled up to the curb beside me. I noticed Dimitri's perfect face in the drivers side as he lent across to pop open my door. I slid in quickly as he took off before my door was even shut.

"Thank you for coming." He told me, glancing quickly at me to give a warm smile before looking back at the road ahead.

"Thank _you_." I replied with a grin, noticing the torn out dash and hanging wires for the first time. "Did you…?"

His eyes shot to mine, then the dash, then me again, worry colouring them suddenly.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't have a car and-" He began an apologetic ramble but I cut him off.

"I have just always wished I could do it." I laughed out sort of awkwardly.

"Oh." He laughed too.

We drove quietly for a while before he turned onto the main road towards my house. "You will have to stay over for the night, sorry." He told me, apologising again.

I didn't think it was necessary to say that I wanted nothing more than to stay over the night with him.

"That one." I told him, guessing we were heading to my house. "No-one will be home."

He smiled quickly before pulling into the empty driveway. We got out quickly and I started checking the front windows, just in case any of them could serve as a way in.

Dimitri walked straight to the door and stuck a thin silver barb into the lock, jimmying it.

Who the hell was this guy? He hot-wired cars and jimmied locks. It was another thing I wished I could do. He was too sexy.

"You need to teach me these things." I laughed, walking over to stand beside him.

"All in good time." He replied in a automatic sort of way, his voice quiet with concentration.

"No windows open." I told him stupidly, like he needed an open window, as I watched his expertise. "Mother Hathaway would never leave them open though."

Instantly he froze in his jimmying mode.

He remained crouched down, but turned his head so he could lock eyes with me. His were calculating, like what I had said triggered something deep inside of him. He recovered from his blank look and stared at me so intensely I began to feel self conscious.

Did Russian's have a different sense of humour entirely?

"Your last name is Hathaway?" He asked kind of stupidly. I _had _just said that.

I nodded slowly. His eyes examined me thoroughly again, like he had so many times.

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**Here are the translations I promised =)**

**CHAPTER 1 **Ticket office guy to Rose: "здравствуйте, что я могу сделать для Вас" _"Hello, what can I do for you?"_

**CHAPTER 4 **Kristina, after Janine says '…make friends.': "Это маловероятно" _"That is unlikely."_

**CHAPTER 4 **Dimitri to receptionist: "пожалуйста" _"Please."_

**CHAPTER 4** _When Dimitri was talking with the receptionist, it was basically just him asking if Rose attended the school, the receptionist not being able to tell him that information, and then him pleading._

**I'm so sorry I didn't clear that up earlier. Don't loose faith though! Hehe Please keep reading and reviewing! Thank you x**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry I took longer than usual to undate =( I had a computing exam today that was 6 hours =O I wouldn't have cared if I never saw a computer again. But then I thought about Dimitri and Rose and I couldn't hold back hehe. I am also sorry about Dimitri's character. I know he seems not like the real Dimitri, but it's all part of the story and you'll understand in later chapter, if you keep reading until then =S Please do!**  
**Thank you x**

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**Chapter 6**

I think he sensed my awkwardness, because he instantly turned back to the lock.

With a defining click, he turned the handle and swung the door open.

"What was your job again, Comrade?" I asked in a part joking, part serious way, walking into the lounge.

I heard him laugh from behind me as he shut the door and followed me in. I dumped my bag quickly and went up the stares, making sure he was following.

"I work at a school in Montana." He told me after a short pause.

"What school?"

"A private one. Very private. You won't know it." He replied almost too quickly.

I was thinking about pressing the matter, but he kind of was saving my live, so I think it wasn't really fair to go probing around in what was obviously confidential stuff.

"What are you? A teacher?"

"Yes, I am a…" He trailed off as I reached the top of the stairs, spinning to look and see why he had stopped, but he recovered almost instantly. "P.E teacher."

My _arse _he was a P.E teacher. Teachers, even P.E teachers, weren't that cool.

I had made it to my room now and was pulling out random clothes and stuffing them into a bag.

"What kind of P.E teacher requires your range of, um…" I turned to him, trying not to laugh. "Skills?"

"They come in handy." He grinned devilishly back, catching my bag as I tossed it to him and went to the bathroom.

"I'll bet." I told him, searching through the cupboards and grabbing my tooth brush and other toiletries.

We had eventually packed my stuff and were driving to the train station.

Dimitri got out, then rushed to open my door before I had even unclipped my belt.

"We need to hurry to catch the two o'clock train." He said, taking my bag and resting his hand on the small of my back as we walked quickly to the ticket office.

His hand didn't falter as he spoke quickly to the guy behind the counter, giving in money exchanged for two tickets. If I had paid enough attention, I may have been able to pick up some familiar words, but I was too distracted by the close contact his hand had with my skin.

If it weren't for my thin t-shirt, I would be able to feel his roughly calloused hands skimming my skin once again.

We passed through the gate quickly, not needing to wait for the train to arrive and we boarded.

I had a strange sense of de-ja-vu. But this train ride was a whole different journey than last time. Dimitri quickly ushered me to a seat and sat down beside me, his thigh brushing mine.

"How long is it to Baia?" I asked after the train had began moving.

"Too long." He spat through his teeth, glancing at his watch every two seconds. "It will take three hours to get to Baia, but I still need to get you from the station to the house."

"What is the hurry?" I whispered.

He turned to me then, his face set grimly with…fear?

"Dimitri?" I whispered, extending my hand to rest on his arm lightly, a jolt zapping through my body. His eyes shot up to mine and I knew I wasn't just imagining the reaction that occurred when our skin touched. It made me wonder what it would be like if more than just our hands were connected.

As tempting as it was to carry on that train of thought, I knew it wasn't wise if I didn't want to be drooling over him at such an important time.

He looked at me intently, his eyes clouded with worry.

"We must make it before nightfall." As he spoke, I noticed his accent became stronger when he was fighting against emotions.

I didn't know what help that fact could possibly be, but it felt necessary to store it away.

"Can you explain now? About why I am not safe?" I asked, watching as his eyes darted around, looking to see if anyone was listening.

"There is this…gang." He begun, phrasing his sentences very carefully. "They are strong and powerful and show no remorse. They are _dangerous_. There have been sightings off them in this area, and they are known for attacks on the city."

I was stocked into stillness, trying to process the words I wished weren't true. He spoke up again, deciding I wasn't going to comment.

"I am bringing you with me to Baia because you will be safe there. I can protect you."

I was going to ask what a P.E teacher could do to protect me from a gang, but decided I didn't really want to hurt his ego. Maybe being a teacher was like being a male nurse. There were much more important things to be asking rather than making him feel less macho anyway.

"What about my family?" I asked, finally finding my voice. "I don't particularly like them, but I don't want them being attacked! My mother is not safe!" I shouted as loud as my whisper would allow.

"Your mother will be safe, Roza." He whispered, avoiding my eyes, but undeniably truthful.

I so badly wanted to ask what he meant, but there were better times to discuss that.

As the train chugged along, I decided to leave Mom a message. I waited until the beat, trying to think up what to say, but the beep came too soon.

"Uh, hi, Mom. I'm fine, don't worry, I'm safe…" I darted my eyes to look at Dimitri as he kept his eyes alert and serious. "But I won't be home tonight." I thought about telling her why, but figured some things needed to be kept quiet. "Okay, Bye!" I said in a hurry, shutting off the call.

I breathed out a sigh once the call said 'disconnected' and switched off my phone, afraid to get any calls back.

"There may have been an easier way to let her know." Dimitri commented, still scoping out our surroundings.

"Nothing is ever easy with her." I told him honestly.

He nodded and apparently that meant the end of our conversation. As we continued on, I could feel tension building in Dimitri as the sky darkened. His flickering eyes became more obvious and the strain he was obviously feeling was taking it's toll on him. It got dark fast in Russia.

When the train finally shuddered to a stop at the station at five, the sky was already a dark blue. Dimitri grabbed my arm roughly and towed me through the still opening door.

He walked quickly, carrying my bag and tugging me at the same time, my feet stumbling around uselessly as I tried to kept pace by myself.

He stopped at a car and walked over to the lock.

"Again with your jimmying?" I joked, walking to the passengers door.

"This car is mine." He grinned quickly, but I felt like he did it to reassure me.

I got in as I heard the locks click and waited for Dimitri to start up the engine, with a key this time. He drove quickly, definitely speeding, down the compact dirt roads. He lifted his arm to adjust the mirror and that's when I saw it.

A silver cylinder was strapped on the inside of his jacket. It looked cold and menacing and the point on it was lethal. I quickly diverted my eyes and tried to calm my breathing.

_Shit. _How could I have been so wrong? This was just like one of those psycho killer movies.

Before I could work myself up to hyperventilating from panic, The car slowed and Dimitri killed the engine.

My first instinct was to think that this was where it would all end. I was waiting for my life to flash before my eyes but instead, the only thing that flashed before my eyes was a comforting light from a cosy looking house just in front of the car.

"Wait here." Dimitri murmured, getting out of the car quickly.

Like I was in any state to move. It occurred to me that I may have gotten it wrong, that he wasn't trying to cut me up into little pieces and bury them for a sick joke. If that were the case, then he wouldn't have told me to 'wait here' and have the chance of making a run for it.

My mental babbling was cut off by my door opening, Dimitri's hand coming down to help me up. Yeah, I overreacted a little.

"Come on." He whispered gently, taking my bag from where it had sat by my feet.

I got out of the car and started walking, guided by his hand on my lower back.

We walked up the few porch steps and he leant forward to quietly swing the door open.

"This is my home." He told me in a whisper, gently nudging me through the door and shutting it behind him.

I noticed the room was lit dimly, making it look magical and as cosy as it had from the outside. I waited for Dimitri to finish double bolting the door shut, suddenly getting nervous about meeting his family, who I could hear talking quietly in Russian.

"Through here." He grabbed my wrist again and led me around a corner and into a very full lounge.

"Thank God, Dimka!" A rounded woman gasped as she ran up to him, capturing him in a motherly embrace. Dimka? Did she not know her own son's name?

I cussed myself at the thought instantly, remembering how Peter had called Kristina a name that almost sounded entirely different. A Russian thing.

I noticed four set of eyes in the room were looking at us, all the same warm brown tone as Dimitri's.

"Mama." Dimitri began, pulling back from the hug. It sounded funny for a tough, grown man like Dimitri to say 'mama.'

I smiled as much as my nerves would allow as he returned his hand to my back.

"This is Rose." He told her, his eyes seeming to deliver a silent message.

Her eyes snapped to my face, studying me quickly before giving me a welcoming smile and hug. It took me a few moments to react and return the hug, but I did eventually. She pulled back, moving to my side and putting her arm around my shoulders.

"I am Olena Belikov." She told me, pressing her palm to her chest then gesturing to the rest of the group in the lounge.

As she told me their names, they all smiled back warmly, saying quiet hellos.

The youngest was in her teens and called Viktoria. The other two were older, Sonya and Karolina, a little boy called Paul bouncing on her knee. He was probably her son, much too young to be Dimitri's brother.

I noticed that, unlike my new family, these Russians were amongst the most beautiful people I had ever seen.

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**Thank you for reading. I am going away in the weekend so I won't be able to updat until I get back on like Sunday, Sorry=( But still review please! hehe**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry I took longer than I said I would. I have exams this week so I'm stressed because I've been on here the whole time I'm suppose to have been studying hehe. I probably won't be able to update as often, but it won't take like weeks to get an update =)  
Keep reading hehe and review!  
Thank you x**

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**Chapter 7**

It felt weird being in a strange families house in an equally as strange country, but the Belikovs' did their best to make me feel welcome, even agreeing to speak English no matter what while I was in the house.

What surprised me most was that they didn't ask Dimitri or I any questions about why I was here.

When it came time for bed, Viktoria showed me to her room and the blow up mattress they had made up for me.

I wanted to say that I felt bad for making Viktoria share her room with me, but the odds of getting to be with Dimitri were slim, and she liked talking to me, as if we had been friends for our lives. I quickly got changed and ready for bed, snuggling under the covers while Viktoria fluffed around, asking if I would like water, if it was too light, too dark, too cold.

"I'm fine, Viktoria." I laughed at her, relieved when she finally settled into her own bed.

"Goodnight, Roza." Dimitri said as he popped his head in the door.

"Where's my goodnight, _Dimka_?" Viktoria sniggered back, obviously in on some inside joke.

"Goodnight." He sneered back at her before returning his eyes to mine. "Sleep well."

"You too." I whispered, feeling bubbles of tension expanding, my cheeks flushing at the thought of Viktoria's inside joke being about Dimitri and I. "Goodnight, Comrade." As usual I covered my arse with wit.

He breathed out a laugh before continuing down the hall to his room.

It was silent for a while, but when I heard Dimitri shut his door, Viktoria's voice piked up.

"Hey, _Roza_." She giggled at me, I guess the darkness didn't cover my stupid smile and blush.

"What?" I demanded, turning away from her.

"What's up with you and my brother?" She asked as she shuffled around in her bed.

When I turned back to her, she was staring at me, chin in her hands as her eyes glinted with dark humour, a look she must have inherited from her brother.

"I don't know what you mean. I just met him." I replied almost defensively. Great, I was leaving myself wide open for her to break through.

"So?" She said in a _duh _voice. "Nothing like love at first sight."

I shot my eyes back to her now, staring squarely. "I just met him."

"But didn't deny it!" She almost squealed back, her eyes lighting up. I guess she had been bluffing, and my stupid defensiveness had given her the answer.

I sighed, decided it was best to not say anything more and risk accidentally letting something else out.

"Goodnight, Viktoria." I told her, rolling over to face away from her persistent eyes.

"Goodnight, _Roza_." She got out through a withheld snigger.

…

When I awoke the next morning, it took me a while to realise where the heck I was. Once I finally saw Viktoria's empty -but rumpled from sleep- bed, I stopped panicking, but had a strange feeling that this wasn't the first time I had woken.

My memory was foggy with the scene of Dimitri running down the hall outside Viktoria's room. He moved so fast past the door that I barely saw him, but I did glimpse the determined look on his face.

Whether it was a dream or not, I couldn't really see how it made a difference.

I got up gingerly, combing thought my hair with my fingers. I followed the faint voices I could hear coming from the kitchen, a hand skimming the wall to steady me.

"…I can't take her back yet." I heard Dimitri's voice, it was flat and emotionless.

I instantly stopped walking and stayed carefully around the corner, not forgetting to feel bad for eavesdropping nonetheless. I wondered if they were regretting making the English oath last night, I would have.

"The Strigoi have moved on." Olena replied in a sympathetic voice. "You can't keep her here amongst the others."

What was the 'Strigoi?' The gang perhaps? It was a funny name, but not particularly Russian sounding.

"She doesn't know-" Dimitri argued back but it was cut off.

"She will soon, Dimka."

At that, I sensed the end of the conversation. There was some clacking of cutlery and then they started up talking about everyday things. I drew in a deep breath and stepped around the corner and into the kitchen.

"Rose!" Olena yanked me into a warm embrace, acting like the serious conversation a few seconds ago had not happened. "How did you sleep?" She asked, pushing me to sit down at the table.

"Good, thank you." I replied, not really up to speed yet.

"Here you go." She smiled, placing a piled up plate of pancakes in front of me.

"Thank you." I told her again, my mouth watering at the sight of the food.

Dimitri came and sat down next to me, his plate even more piled up, if possible.

"Hungry, Comrade?" I laughed, slapping his stomach.

He laughed back and jerked his chin at my plate. "Hungry, Roza?" He countered, then he froze, only his eyes flicking around to the faces of his family as his cheeks began to redden.

Oh. My. God. Did he just blush? The most insanely hot badass P.E teacher blushed?

Where the hell had that come from? I looked around at his family too, trying to see the source of his sudden embarrassment. I didn't see anything too incriminating, but I didn't miss the very obvious looks he was getting from his sisters.

I looked back at him and saw that the blush had faded, if it had been there at all.

"There is a train that will leave to Omsk in an hour and a half. I'll catch it with you and make sure you get home alright." He told me, his eyes snapping down to the food on his overflowing plate.

"Okay." I whispered back to him before searching for Olena with my eyes. I found her cooking over the stovetop in the kitchen. I excused myself from the table and quickly went over to her.

"Thank you for letting me stay…" I told her, biting my tongue when I tried to add, Mrs Belikov.

"It's been my pleasure, Rose. You are welcome any time." She gave me a quick smile before turning back to flip a pancake.

The look was only quick, but I knew she was being truthful about me being welcome.

Once we had breakfast, Dimitri and I got changed and ready to catch the train.

"Bye, Mama." He told Olena, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"Be good." She told him, scowling but the smile evident on her lips. "I hope to see you again, Rose." She told me, hugging me quickly.

"Thanks again." I told her, smiling at Dimitri's sisters.

"Bye, _Roza_." They all said in unison, smirking at Dimitri and I.

I smiled quickly and turned to follow Dimitri to the car, effectively hiding my blush in the process.

Before I knew it, we had waved our goodbyes and were already on the train. It stuck me as funny now that all the train trips I had taken seemed to be leading me to the same place, yet somewhere else entirely, and that I had taken more train trips in these three days than I had in my whole life.

"You should sleep." Dimitri told me, noticing my drooping eyelids. "It'll be three hours until we are back in Omsk, so you probably need to rest up to fight your mother."

"Okay." I mumbled, stretching out on the unoccupied bench.

For whatever strange reason, I found the sound of the train moving comforting, or maybe it was just the close proximity with Dimitri, but I was soon asleep.

It felt like I had been asleep all of five minutes, but when I woke up, I noticed that Dimitri wasn't beside me, but our bags were still on the floor under the bench seat.

Frowning, I pulled myself into a sitting position, then onto my feet to look for Dimitri. I walked -stumbled- to the front of the cart I was in and found a guy standing, talking in English with another guy. I stood close by, waiting until I saw the other guy walk away before approaching him.

"Hey, I was wondering if you knew a Dimitri Belikov?" I asked, realising how stereotypical it was to think everyone would know everyone.

"Oh, yeah, the dhampir, right?" He said, his face lighting with admiration.

What the heck was a dhampir?

"Um yes." I said anyway, figuring it was probably some kind of Russian word to do with him.

"Yeah, I didn't think he was back from the academy yet. What an honour, huh? To be guarding the last Dragomir Princess." As she spoke, he bobbed his head, like he was reminiscing.

"Guarding?" I asked, wondering if this guy was sniffing glue.

"Yeah, well he works at St Vladmir's, but apparently he'll be her guardian when she graduates. Pretty sad though, isn't it?" He asked.

Yes. I knew exactly what he was talking about. _Right_.

"What's sad?" I asked, rewarded with a look that showed he thought I was a completely retard.

"A Guardian's, well any dhampir's life really. Having to protect the Moroi, you know, 'they come first?'" He said with quotation marks.

Moroi? Strigoi? They were so similar. Like the same main thing, but different versions. I suddenly had a sick feeling in my stomach. It was almost like I knew there had always been more to my life.

"Here he is now." The guy said, smiling over my shoulder.

I spun and looked at Dimitri, his warm eyes suddenly darkening with worry. My heart was beating so quickly I thought it would burst.

I cleared my throat, trying to dislodge the lump of utter horror.

"What are you?" I asked, my voice heavy with emotions, horror over-righting everything else though.

He looked at me for a few seconds and I vaguely saw the guy I had been talking to walk away awkwardly.

Dimitri sighed, looking down as he ran a hand through his hair.

"The same as you."

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**Ohhh, the plot thickens =P Thank you for reading! I'll try update as soon as I can! Review and tell me waht you think! Thank you x**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here I am again on fanficiton when I should be studying =D I hold all you responsible if I fail! hehe Thank you for the reviews and suggestions, I am working them into the plot for later so don't stop giving them.  
Thank you x**

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Chapter 8

My heart sunk even deeper into the overflow of tears that seemed to be clogging my chest rather than leaking through my eyes.

The air in the small cart of the train seemed to become thick, the weight and pressure of my surroundings had changed, becoming more dense. Chokingly dense and I found it difficult to even breathe.

I felt like my entire life was coming crashing down on me, but I couldn't do a thing but try to stand up against the downfall.

I thought back to what I had actually discovered from listening in on the Belikov's conversation in the kitchen. Not much. I had been left with more questions than I had before, with absolutely no answers at all.

Curiosity was a bitch.

But maybe the truth was even worse.

Sure, you always think that you would want to know, choose freedom and all that, but when it came down to it, you were pretty much just setting yourself up for more and more crisis's.

Through my entire mental tirade, I noticed that Dimitri didn't once take his eyes off me, bracing himself if I suddenly had an anxiety attack. At this point that seemed highly likely.

I swallowed loudly, flinching against the pain it caused in my throat because of the tumour of worry that was growing there.

"What am _I_?" I asked in a whisper, my voice shaky with the raging emotions my face was refusing to portray.

I knew my face was blank and expressionless, but I was useless to change that, _anything_.

Anger had subsided now, but I didn't know what emotion was the strongest.

Dimitri approached me slowly, extending his arm to me, I flinched back almost involuntary.

He let his hand drop, his face seemed to fall more though.

"Roza, come sit." He whispered, leading the way back to our seats.

I followed him at a distance, sitting gingerly down a little way away from him.

He rested his elbows on his knees and looked at me with strain clear on the set of his face.

"I don't really know how to say this, or where to even begin, but there are things in this world, _things_ you are a part of, as I am." He began, his voice so soft as he tried to keep our conversation from being overheard, and to stop me from making a run for it.

I nodded when he looked at me expectantly.

"The gang I said I was protecting you from, it isn't really a gang as such. They are called Strigoi, unnatural…" He opened and closed his mouth a few times, struggling for the words. "…_Creatures_ of the night, giving up life and everything to do with it to become powerful and immortal. They are opposed to the Moroi, though the same species, Moroi choose life and all it's processes, they are _safe_."

I stared at him even once he finished talking, waiting for me to process it before continuing on. I was pretty much an emotional wreck inside, but some part of me knew this had been a long time coming.

Sure it sounded like a messed up joke, a tiny, insignificant part of me expecting to see Ashton Kutcher running up with a camera screaming 'punked.'

"Creature of the ni-"

"Vampires." He cut me off, his lips moving a little from their stern line into a sad smile.

I wanted to laugh in his face and tell Ashton that he could come out now, but I knew I had to keep an open mind about all this. I knew it had to be true.

"How are vampires good?" I asked, probably the least important question, but it was the most thought provoking one I had.

"Good is a very literal word. What I mean is that Moroi do not kill. They drink from volunteering humans, only taking enough to satisfy their needs." He told me, watching closely to make sure I was retaining all the information.

I nodded again, thinking through it all.

"Where do we come into this?"

"We are the offspring of the first Moroi and human, dhampirs, born to protect the Moroi from the Strigoi." He kept his eyes on me, but I knew he was calculating the nearness of other people with his peripheral vision. "The tattoo's on my neck -and your mother's- are called _Molnija _Marks, given for the Strigoi we kill."

"My mom is a dhampir?" No way, she wasn't cool enough.

"Yes, and your father a Moroi." He replied almost hesitantly.

My dad was a creature of the night, a _vampire_. Talk about life changing.

I looked deep into his eyes, knowing without a doubt that he was _'safe.'_ As I stared, I felt almost like a tide was moving throughout me, changing the way I looked at everything, changing the way I _felt _about everything. The way I felt about Dimitri. I didn't just _want_ him, I needed him in more ways than one.

"Can I see?" I whispered, gesturing to his neck.

He nodded, clearing his throat softly before turning slightly so I could glimpse the back of his neck. I reached up with shaking hands and brushed the long hair that hung over the back of his neck, revealing the line of tattoo's. I touched them gently, loving the way his warmth radiated through my fingers, heating me. I felt him shiver under my skimming fingers and I suddenly had an urge to kiss the beautifully exotic tattoo work.

"What's this one?" I whispered, running my finger along the horizontal tattoo above and different from the rest.

"That is the Promise Mark. I am a sworn guardian to serve the Moroi." He whispered back as I ran my fingers back and forth along the line, his skin raising in goose bumps in my wake.

He swallowed loudly before clearing his throat again roughly, turning back to face me.

"I work at St Vladmir's Academy, guarding the school until Princess Vasilissa Dragomir graduates."

"So much for a P.E teacher." I joked half-heartedly, he smiled back in the same manner.

"Is that what that is for?" I asked, reaching across and pointing into his jacket where the silver instrument gleamed. The movement caused my hand to brush along his chest and I felt his slight intake of breath.

"Yes. It is used to kill the Strigoi, though it is very difficult." He opened the jacket a little, allowing me a better look before closing it again, away from curious eyes.

"Can I learn?" I asked, my mind wandering off thinking about what it would be like to hold it in my hand like a rebel in a leather coat.

"I can teach you, eventually." He replied, his thoughts far off too.

"Will I be a guardian?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

He turned his eyes back to mine from where he had been examining his hands, a furrow deep between his brows.

"If you wish to be." He whispered in a sorrowful kind of way. "Guardian's are trained all through school, graduating at eighteen after years and years of practise."

"I've missed my boat then." I stated.

"It may not be too late, but you do not have to be a guardian. My sisters and mother aren't." He looked out the window and when I followed his gaze, I noticed we were nearing the station. "I think we better talk to Janine."

"How do you know her name?" I asked, how the hell did he know, was he really stalking me?

He turned back to look at me, his eyes looking happier than they had been since I first met him.

"Janine Hathaway is a famous Guardian, one of the best. But she left without a trace a few years ago." He said and I remembered how mom used to go away for big holidays at all times of the year. I can't believe she lied this whole time.

My _arse _she was going to Fiji.

We got off the train when it finally stopped and walked towards my house, him carrying all the bags and refusing to let me lift even one finger.

I noticed his steps were slightly jumpy, his face looking alight.

"Keen to meet the parents?" I asked, not realising how it sounded until it was out.

Yes, I _wished _he wanted to meet my parents, showing them what a decent boyfriend he would be to their daughter, but I knew it wasn't like that.

He didn't seem to notice anyway.

"Guardian Hathaway is like a celebrity in the Moroi world. It is a great honour." He spoke with a broad smile on his face.

"You won't be saying that when we turn up at her door step." I muttered, catching sight of my house.

We walked the rest of the way together, but keeping conversation to a minimal, there wasn't much you could talk about once you realise that your whole life has been a lie.

We walked into the property and up to the porch steps, taking a deep breath before climbing them and knocking on the door.

Mom must have been waiting for me to return because she opened the door before I had even dropped my hand from knocking.

The door swung open to reveal her looking like she hadn't slept in days, her eyes flitting to my face for a second with a relieved smile before noticing Dimitri at my side. Her eyes locked with him for a while and I saw her jaw clenching with withheld anger.

"I thought I told you not to go to Baia." She got out through gritted teeth, her eyes still on Dimitri.

I knew what it was like to be subject to that incriminating gaze so I reached for Dimitri's hand, squeezing his fingers.

He squeezed back but didn't release my hand, making me feel like a little kid in a candy shop despite this situation.

She had no right to be pissed. She wasn't the one who had been lied to her entire life.

"I thought it didn't exist." I told her just as sternly.

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**So there it is, sorry about the wait. Hopefully this will answer some of the questions you left in the reviews, the rest will be answered soon. Thank you for reading. Tell me if something is missing from my writing or if it's just plain boring. Please review! x**


	9. Chapter 9

**All these reviews make me want to cry! You guys are awesome! Thank you so much more putting me on your favourite author too!  
****Here is Chapter 9, with more answers to some of your questions. Happy reading!  
Thank you x REVIEW!**

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**Chapter 9**

"It is an honour, Guardian Hathaway." Dimitri spoke up, bowing respectfully. Well that was kind of random. "But I am the one who took Rose to Baia."

Mom's eyes on him didn't falter as she stepped back from the door, allowing us both in. I pulled Dimitri along behind me as I saw every muscle in moms body strung tightly. She closed the door and we all went into the lounge, the rest of the family not home.

Mom sat down roughly, rubbing her crinkled forehead. "Rose, I told you not to go to Baia." She repeated, almost like she thought the more she said it, it would suddenly just not have happened.

"You also told me I was human. That you were human, that dad was human. _Just _human." I spat, slightly aware of Dimitri's thumb rubbing along my knuckles in soothing circles.

"I was protecting you!" She spat back as her eyes drilled holes into me, a vein in her forehead pulsing viciously.

"From what?" I screamed back, fighting back tears. "Dimitri protected me from the Strigoi! You just pretended they weren't there! How is that protecting?"

"You don't want that life, Rose!" She returned the venom, but I didn't miss the pain so clearly vivid in her eyes. I had never seen her so torn.

"Maybe you didn't want it. But I might have." I stopped shouting, but the acid in my voice seemed more deadly than the volume. "What about dad, huh? Didn't he want me to know either?"

"No, he did. It is why I left. I convinced him all through your life that it would be better for you if you didn't know, but he wanted to tell you when you were sixteen. He wanted to enroll you at the academy where all guardians are trained." Her voice was low and she avoided my eyes.

I was stunned silent. How could she have been so selfish? Maybe if she hadn't have been, I would have met Dimitri a lot sooner.

"I want to see it, I think I deserve that much." My voice was strong and unmoving, but it felt as though my insides had been wrenched out of me then forced back in. A fire blazed in my chest and heart.

"Rose… I can't go back there…" She began again. I wanted to shake her so hard and demand why she didn't think I was ever worthy of the truth.

Just as I was about to scream something else at her, something that was highly offensive, Dimitri cut in.

"I will take Rose." His voice was calm, barely audible after the screams that had been going on before. "I will show her the academy and let her make up her mind for herself."

I turned to look at him, his eyes were locked on my face. The look he gave me made my stomach boil up in a flurry of butterflies, but I couldn't decipher what the look really was.

"I'm sorry." Mom turned to Dimitri as he dragged his eyes from me. "Really I am. But Rose cannot-"

"Mom!" I cut her off in a whining voice that I instantly regretted.

"I will keep Rose safe." He interjected smoothly, showing his honest words through his intense look.

Mom pursed her lips, glancing between the two of us, she opened her mouth to talk and I gave her a stern look.

"Okay." She breathed out in a sigh. "But if anything happens to her, I will come after you."

Dimitri nodded solemnly but despite everything, I wanted to laugh.

My mom would come after the badass who can jimmy locks and hot-wire cars? That was a _hoot_. But Dimitri had said she was one of the best, and by his standards I guess she was pretty badass herself.

"I will have a plane arranged within the next twelve hours. I must return home and get my things, but I will be back as soon as I can to get you." He spoke softly and my heart beat went double-time as he squeezed my hand once more before releasing to stand.

"Go pack your things, Rose." Mom spoke softly too. She smiled sadly at me, a smile I had never seen before. Mom rarely smiled.

"Okay." I replied before turning to Dimitri.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." His mouth spoke the words, but his eyes looked like they were trying to communicate something more.

"See you." I whispered, then turned to go upstairs. I wouldn't have to pack much because I had barely unpacked the first time.

…

It took seven hours for Dimitri to return, and within those seven hours I had a heart to heart with mom.

"If you like it there. You can stay and train. But you must call whenever you get the chance." She had told me.

I had hugged her, smiling blissfully as she tried not to cry.

I didn't think mom was much of a crier, but I suppose if I was loosing my daughter I would be emotional too.

My new, but soon forgotten family came home within that time, and mom explained I would be returning to Montana to live with dad. I certainly wouldn't miss the sisters, but I would miss Peter and mom, as well as the few friends I had made at the school, which I had been at for under half a day.

The bitches replied with snarky comments, but Peter seemed as though he would truly miss me.

A tall, familiar figure stepped around the doorframe and our eyes met, the etched image in my head standing a few meters away. His brown eyes burned into me as a smile stretched out over his perfect lips, my heart pounded against my ribs. I loved the way he made me feel.

He walked in, straight towards me with a charming smile.

"Roza." He exclaimed, his perfect features as delicately cut as I remembered, his voice as silky as I constantly thought about as it wrapped around my nickname.

He was walking towards me, Dimitri.

"Comrade." I smiled in return, surprised I could act so unaffected, well my voice at least, I was only barely aware of my right hand being very interested at the hem of my shirt.

"You be careful." Mom told me, pulling me out of my nervous panic, gripping my shoulders roughly before turning to the rest of _her _family. "This is Dimitri Belikov. He is a friend of Rose's father." She told them, though the girls didn't seem interested in anything but his perfect looks.

I had never seen them get up so quick, and I silently thought -and wished- the over exercise would give Kristina a heart attack. Olesya was the first to reach him.

"I'm Olesya." She smiled flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes and all.

Kristina used her fat bum to nudge her out of the way. "Kristina." She extended her hand towards him, in a gesture to make him kiss her hand and I suddenly wanted to strangle her.

Dimitri just smiled politely, giving a quick hello and shaking her hand once.

I smirked from beside him and she shot daggers at me with her disgustingly dull eyes.

"We better be going, Comrade." I said after everyone had said goodbye, and pushed him through the front door.

"More hot-wiring?" I joked, smirking at him when i saw the car parked in our driveway.

"It's a rental." He grinned back and loaded our bags into the back seat.

"Call me when you land!" Mom called as we both slid into the car.

Dimitri tooted once and we both waved before he drove the short distance to the train station.

"What's the academy like?" I asked as he grabbed our bags again and headed to the ticket office.

"It is very old fashioned. The buildings are beautiful though." He told me, getting our tickets and carrying on through the gate. "There is a church service Sundays, but you don't have to go."

He continued on to talk about the school and I couldn't help my excitement.

We boarded yet another train and found an unoccupied bench to sit on. The sky was darkening quickly and I hoped I would be able to sleep on the plane, if my nerves would allow it.

We talked easily and naturally without the need of pointless statements when it grew quiet. I was completely and entirely comfortable with him and he seemed the same. I remembered the train ride had been too short last time and knew it would be the same now, but we did have an entire plane trip ahead of us too. The sky outside darken more and I shivered at the sudden coldness.

Dimitri shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders, smiling to himself when I looked at him.

"Thought you'd be getting cold." He explained as he fiddled around, making sure I was comfortable, he gazed up at me and grinned. "Warm enough?"

I wanted to say I wasn't, in the hopes that he would offer another way of keeping me warm. But he hadn't touched me since we had confronted mom, so I doubted that my plan would turn out as desired. Instead I just nodded, not without seeing the flicker of something I couldn't figure out. Disappointment? I wasn't sure but I was happy to go along with thinking it was that.

We resumed our conversation and somehow it diverted back to my mom and dad spilting.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this, Roza." He spoke quietly, everything about him was sympathetic at that moment.

He reached across the small space between us and squeezed my fingers. The pressure was so comforting that I couldn't help but smile and return it to his fingers. All too soon he pulled his hand back and ran it through his hair. I had the urge to do it for him but resisted.

With the time to think, I suddenly had the fear that he liked what he saw in Olesya, I mean she _was _sort of pretty, in a skanky kind of way. I didn't, however, have any worries about Kristina. Some guys liked that, so was I being naïve by thinking that there wasn't a possibility that Dimitri was one of those guys. I was worrying myself into a frenzy, I didn't even realise what I was saying until it was out and almost pleadingly desperate.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" I blurted, blushing instantly. "Or a wife, maybe?" I couldn't stop myself when he paused with a nervous kind of look.

"No girlfriend." He recovered with a chuckled, but added when he saw my pained face. "Or wife."

"I'm sorry." I apologized breathlessly. "That was insanely rude."

"I was about to ask you the same thing." He smiled, and my heart fluttered with hope that he may be interested. When he looked at me expectantly I realised he had implied his statement as a question.

"Oh, no I don't." I flushed, idly playing with a frayed section of the seat. "Have a boyfriend, I mean."

He grinned at me with a high wattage smile as he turned to look out the window at Russia whizzing by.

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**So how was it? Review and tell me. Thank you x I _freaking_ love your review! hehe**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys. Sorry I've been a slacker and taken ages to update =S I had a maths exam yesterday. Omg I never knew how much maths utterly repulses me hehe.  
It's is X+2 what? X+2 my arse! Who needs it?  
Anyway sorry about the rant. Here is chapter 10. REVIEW!  
Thank you x**

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**Chapter 10**

We eventually boarded the plane, proving how efficient Dimitri was as we didn't have to wait. Dimitri led the way through the isles of passengers, some of which gave him very _obvious _looks.

I wondered how obvious they would look with a black eye.

Our seats were at the very back of the plane which I wasn't too thrilled about. To be honest I wasn't that thrilled about planes, period, but it made to be done.

"Shotgun window seat!" I declared, pushing past Dimitri and sliding into the far seat.

I heard him chuckle as he reached up to stow our carry-on luggage. As he stretched, his t-shirt lifted slighting, giving me a very pleasing view of obvious rock hard abs. I had to physically hold my hands down or else they would be wandering where they probably shouldn't be.

He caught me looking and smiled warily as he fell into the seat beside me. I didn't realise how nervous I was until I tried to do my seat belt up, proving impossible because of my shaking hands.

"Are you afraid of flying?" He asked, nodding at my fumbling hands.

I finally snapped the belt together and turned to look up at him. I was _not _afraid of a stupid plane.

"No. I'm just nervous." I replied, more bitterly than I intended.

He nodded slowly, removing his eyes from me and belting himself in.

The airline staff walked down the isles, making sure everyone was comfortable and had things packed safely away, as was their job. However, it was so _not_ this particular hostesses job to blatantly check out Dimitri.

I suppressed an almost animalistic growl and turned to look out the window. I was sad that I would be leaving Russia so soon, it was a lot prettier than I gave it credit for. I watched as the engines began to hum with power, heat waves rising off the wings.

When we were given the all clear to take off, we began speeding down the runway and then lifting up into the sky. It wasn't until now that I realised the quickly coming evening had brought a flurry of intimidating, black clouds with it.

I swallowed and closed the window shade roughly, turning to stare at the back of the seat in front of me. We were still climbing up and I suppose we hadn't reached the clouds yet.

The plane gave little shakes now and then, like on any flights, barely noticeable. I watched the movement at the front of the plane as the staff got out of their seats to get water for the passengers. They were only up for a minute before they rushed back to their seats and belted themselves in.

_Crap_. That was never a good sign.

The seat belt light binged and the fuzzy radio sounded as the pilot began to speak, the plane shaking a little more than before. It wasn't a lot, but definitely noticeable now.

The pilot spoke through the microphone in Russian, the fact that it wasn't in English seemed to freak me out more until I heard the echo in English.

"Thank you for flying Russia Airlines." The translation said. I wanted to barge open the cabin he was in and tell him to focus on flying rather than promoting the crummy airline. "We will be experiencing some turbulence through this part of our flight. Please remain seated and lock your trays up onto the seat in front of you." The plane did a small jerk and my heart began beating frantically as I clutched the armrest tightly, digging my nails in.

I glanced over at Dimitri, knowing my eyes would be terrified even before I was the raw worry in his. But the worry was for me.

"I thought you weren't afraid of flying." His sentence held the humour, but I could tell that he was just trying to lighten my tense mood.

"I'm not. I'm afraid of falling." I replied through gritted teeth, not from anger but from fear.

"We'll be fine." He assured me, unclasping my fingers from the arm rest and putting his hand in their deadly grip instead.

Even through my panic I noticed how deliciously warm his skin was, my heart beating even quicker now for two reasons.

To make matters worse, the staff decided it would be a great idea to turn off the main lights, the only light coming from the illuminated panels running along the isle and the blinking lights for reading.

"Like this is any better." I muttered quietly, surprised my voice wasn't a high pitched mess at the moment.

"It's okay, Roza." Dimitri murmured back, his voice completely calm.

I gripped his hand tightly -his hand stroking the back of mine- and squeezed my eyes shut. The plane did a big drop within seconds, though I was still able to get the disgusting feeling of my stomach flipping up into the chest.

My knees were shaking and I dug my nails into Dimitri's hand, feeling bad, but not being able to stop.

I cracked my eyes open to look at him and saw he as staring at me intently. I felt stupid because now I could feel dampness running down my cheeks, tears. It wasn't just the fear of this lane, but leaving my family and all the others things that have silently been wearing away at me.

The plane jerked sideways, jerking me closer to Dimitri too. We were inches away and I would see my frantic breaths stirring this loose hair handing around his face.

Another jerk and we were closer still, his breath on my lips driving me crazy and distracting me from what I had been scared of.

I stared at him letting the tears run freely; it was futile to try stop them, even though I wish I could. I saw how it agonized him when they began to fall quicker. He turned his body toward me but looked away from me, his eyebrows furrowing for answers.

I still felt the rocking of the plane, but focussed on him completely, trying to drown out the shaking.

He stared for a few seconds then turned his face back to me. He moved his free hand with exaggerated slowness up to my face and gently wiped away the tears again before resting his palm along my jaw line and leaving his fingers against my cheek. He stared into my eyes before moving his face closer, shifting his eyes between mine to gauge my reaction as well as make sure he didn't head-but me from the shaking.

My breath caught and I leaned in as well. He closed his eyes and his lips pressed lightly against mine.

His lips were as soft and smooth as silk, they moved slowly with mine, gently. His fingers placed lightly on my face were so gentle they made my skin raise in goose bumps and made butterflies riot in the pit of my stomach. This kiss was like no kiss I had ever had.

Dimitri's kisses of pure desire and need reflected the softness in him, the caring and passionate way he cared about everything, about me. I opened my eyes quickly to peek at him. His eyes were shut loosely and I could tell that he liked it almost as much as me.

I thought it was a figure of speech when they say you float away but I actually felt as though I was. Without breaking the kiss he moved his hand that I had been holding slightly away. Before I had time to be upset, his curled around mine again, linking our fingers. I instinctively held onto his hand tightly and put my other hand lightly on his shoulder so he couldn't disappear and he continued to kiss me with nothing but gentleness.

I'd never had a kiss this good. A kiss that made me feel wanted and desired, it would take some getting used to but I was absolutely fine with taking my entire life time getting used to it. He lightly bit my lower lip a couple of times, I could feel a slight smile stretching out his lips.

The plane jerked as we kissed, seeming to snap him back to reality, he pulled away a few millimetres but I could still feel his breath and closeness. We both opened our eyes slowly then he pecked my lips slowly and tenderly a few times before pulling back completely.

I stared into his eyes and smiled dizzily. His fingers were still lingering on my face and he used them to caress my cheek softly, I could feel my cheeks burning with my blush. He smiled his breath taking smile right into my eyes.

Somewhere through the staring, we made it through the cloud cover and began flying smoothly.

"Thank you." I spoke in an uneven whisper, breaking the long silence.

"No need to thank me. I couldn't hold it back much longer." He whispered back -a little uneven as well I guessed- before kissing my cheek, setting it ablaze again.

"Hold it back?" I asked confused.

"Kissing you. I've been wanting to for a while now but thought it would be better-" He hesitated. "-Easier… For both of us if I didn't." He replied gravely.

"But-" I started but he cut me off and pressed his finger to my lips.

"Shh, Roza. Lets not talk about what is the _right_ thing."

"Time goes too fast." I grumped and his replying snigger was irresistible.

"It used to go slow… until I met you. Everything dragged on but now everything goes quickly-" He took my hand and pressed it over his heart. "-Everything."

I felt his heart beating steadily but accelerated. I blushed because I knew mine would be the same.

"Relax, Roza. I'll protect you always."

He let go of my hand and used that arm to put the arm rest up and pull me against his side, linking our fingers with his other hand. He cradled me against him and held my head to his chest as he held my other hand securely, stroking it with his thumb gently.

I smiled to myself and remembered mom telling me to never see Dimitri again. I wondered what she would say if she saw us now, curled up together after having the most amazing kiss.

I snuggled into his chest further and listened to the steady beating of his heart, knowing mine would always belong to him.

Yeah, maybe it was impulsive to be so strongly connected to someone I hardly knew, someone _seven _years older.

I took his advice, to not think about what is the _right_ thing, the _politically correct_ thing, because right now, nothing felt more right than this.

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**Thank you for reading! Sorry if the plane scene was a bit wtf but it happened to me once, well minus the studly Dimitri, but still now that I look back on it, it was hilarious! I freaked out everyone else on the plane and got a lolly pop hehe. REVIEW! Thank you x**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys. Sorry I took ages to update, exams are lethal =( Anyway I don't know if I should continue this story. I'll keep going if people want me to, but if it's no good I would honestly appreciate...honesty hehe. Thank you all the people that are AMAZING and review! If I pass my exams it will be because of you guys. Don't ask me how, it just will be hehe.**  
**Anyway REVIEW! Thank you xx**

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**Chapter 11**

Somewhere between me feeling giddy from Dimitri's kiss and inhaling his intoxicating scent, I fell asleep.

I was awoken just as the plane was touching down, Dimitri's arm still firmly around me. I tilted my head up to smile at him and he reached down to kiss me. His warm lips pecked mine for a second, drawing in my bottom lip just as quickly.

He pulled away to soon, but not before my body made an involuntary growl at the way he grazed my lip with his teeth.

It made me want him in ways I found quite frankly embarrassing.

I knew my face was going red, but all I could focus on was how the hunger in me was the same as what I could see in the seductive look he was giving me. Our eyes were locked and I could hear a faint binging in the background. It was so faint that I was probably imagining it as anything other than my heart singing.

Dimitri's urgent gaze shifted into an almost uncomfortable one, though he kept his fingers running up and down my forearm. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, removing his arm.

"The isle is free." He murmured, un-belting himself and standing to get our luggage from the top compartment.

Confused, I looked around to see most of the other passengers off the plane already, a blinking light catching my attention.

_Oh. _Yeah, I was stupid. Here I had been thinking the binging was my heart beating double-time because of Dimitri's nearness, when it was actually the seat belt sign. Not that my heart wasn't accelerated at thoughts of us _together_.

I shook the thought from my head before I had the chance to be self conscious of it, and scooted along the seats to stand in the isle beside Dimitri.

"Let's go." He said as he walked to the rear door, instructing me to follow.

He lead us out of the plane and into the arrivals area, families hugging after being reunited, people waiting with signs.

I hated airports.

No-one was ever waiting for me.

Until now.

It became obvious that he was leading us to a particularly familiar lady. Her hair cropped short, youth pouring out of her despite her lined face.

My mind knew her. Somewhere far back in the depths of my brain, I was clicking away and trying to make connections that couldn't possibly be there.

"Welcome back, Guardian Belikov." The lady spoke with such authority but still managed to get the feeling of friendship towards Dimitri across.

He smiled and gestured to me. "This is Rosemarie Hathaway." He began, but the lady's expression didn't change, like she wasn't surprised. "And this is Guardian Petrov-"

"Alberta." She corrected, a strange smugness in her voice.

"I know you…" I whispered, trying to wrap my head around the idea of how I could possibly know this woman. Her face, her name, and her stoic expression were all so familiar.

Somewhere back in my childhood, a happier time, her face was gnawing at my sub-conscious. Her eyes glinted with understanding as she gave a quick nod.

"I have known you for some time. Since you were a little girl, Rosemarie."

"You were my mother's friend." I told her, piecing it together in my head as I went.

She nodded again and gave a smile, then, I remembered her.

"How long has it been?" I asked in a whisper, feeling slightly guilty about only realizing her absence now.

"The last time I saw you was when you were six." She began, leading us over to the luggage collection area. "When your mother told me she was going to raise you as a human, I could not understand. You see, it is unheard of." She continued to walk ahead of Dimitri and I, when I looked at him, he gave me a reassuring smile. "Your mother and father -despite his views- took off without a word. Until now." We stopped walking and she turned to give me a rueful smile.

"Until now." I repeated, trying to mirror her smile minus the self-pity.

We collected our bags and were out of the airport as soon as we had everything. A car was already waiting for us and began driving before I had even shut my door. Efficient.

We drove through the streets until they turned to deserted dirt tracks, eventually pulling up at some seriously intimidating looking Goth-gates.

Alberta rolled down the driver's window and talked to a guy that had run up to the car, eyes always alert.

I don't know if it was my eyes, or something more, but the perimeter of the academy seemed to shimmer with some sort of invisible force. It was amazing and slightly frightening, as if maybe the barrier would reject me entering and zap me with some mega mighty magic stuff.

"Relax, Rose." Dimitri spun from the front seat to look at me, obviously seeing my worried face.

The worry vanished when I raised my eyebrows at him, expecting an explanation for the sudden lack of _Roza._

Alberta wound her window back up and the gates opened, allowing us to drive through. She circled around and pulled into a space in a line of other cars, cutting the engine.

"Welcome to St Vladmir's Academy, Rose." She said as she concentrated on unclipping her seatbelt and assisting it as it retracted.

I wondered if that was a sign of nervousness.

I turned to open my door but Dimitri was already standing in front of it, about to open it for me.

"Thanks, Comrade." I gave him my best suggestive smile as I slinked out of the car, brushed my body with his as I passed.

My smile turned smug when I heard his breathing hitch slightly.

"You must meet with Headmistress Kirova." Alberta directed us through to the school and Dimitri shut the car door. "Her office is this way."

Dimitri and I followed behind her once again as I saw some other people collecting our bags from the boot. I wondered if I would get room service.

We walked through the school, Dimitri pointing out various places like the gym and dorms as we went. The _academy _-it felt funny to call it that- grounds were beautiful in a very medievally gothic sort of way. The buildings were all pointed rooves and stone work, like castles. There were lots of gated off courtyards with statues and monuments, not like any school I had ever known.

The sky was light, probably around noon, and the school was completely deserted apart from us.

Vampires. Right. That would take some getting used to.

A wave of this bubbly, almost excited feeling, hit me, though it felt like it wasn't my emotion to bear. I gnawed on my lower lip as I tried to block out the strange feeling that was getting stronger.

Words were almost forming in my head, like an internal conversation, only one-sided, and that side was not me.

I was getting used to the eerie silence and suppressing the strange reactions in my mind, until I heard a girls voice suddenly cut through it. I was so busy looking around that I hadn't noticed Alberta stop walking.

If I hadn't have been for Dimitri's restraining grip, I would have walked straight into her.

"I thought you would be around here somewhere." Alberta spoke in a soft voice, one that seemed strange coming from her.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it, but Alberta did a quick bow. And when I looked at Dimitri, his head was bowed too.

_What the hell? Who are they bowing to?_

I screwed up my nose in confusion and stepped around from behind Alberta, out of Dimitri's light grip.

A girl stood there with a guy resting his hand on her lower back.

She was beautiful.

Her hair was corn silk, the lightness matching the pale jade-green of her eyes and pallor of her skin. She was tall and very slim, model slim except for the poking out bones.

The guy beside her was equally as pale but with dark hair and piecing eyes, the same tall, slim frame.

They looked like a couple out of a magazine.

I suddenly noticed the bubbly feelings were coming from her, only I was feeling them. My face was no doubt twisted into a very unattractive expression as I tried to understand why the hell I was feeling what she was supposed to be.

The words sprung up in my mind again, all humming over each other so I couldn't pick out a single sentence, but the voice they were spoken in was as clear as anything, and it was hers.

She gave me a smile and titled her head to the side.

"This is Princess Vasilissa Dragomir." Alberta informed me.

"Lissa." The girl corrected with a polite smile, the guy behind her looking shifty.

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**Thank you for reading and hopefully reviewing! Tell me what you think and if I should keep going. Thank you so much! REVIEW! Am I overly naggy now? xx**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey! I'm so sorry it took so long to update =( But here it is finally! I can't really write as much in the weekends now because I go to Speedway, which I am seriously reconsidering after watching The Final Destination, much like I am reconsidering swimming, drive through car washes and going to the cinemas. For those who have seen this movie, you will know what I am talking about.  
I pre-ordered Last Sacrifice and it was shipped today! But I probably won't get it until tomorrow! =(  
Please Review! x**

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**Chapter 12**

"You are the last Dragomir?" I asked.

She smiled politely but I saw a sort of nervousness cross her face.

_Damn. _I didn't even notice how insensitive that would sound.

"Yes." Dimitri answered for her, bursting the awkward bubble. "And my charge when she Graduates. The logistics of the Moroi system is very medieval, with royalty. It's too much to go into now, but basically there are twelve ruling families throughout and a queen is elected from the eldest of each." He finished, not without an uneasy but almost unnoticeable glance at the guy beside Lissa.

"This is Christian Ozera." Alberta interjected gesturing us to follow her through the school.

We said a quick 'hi' and followed Alberta.

As we walked, I didn't have time to search around for Dimitri because he was already right beside me.

"Don't be nervous, Roza." He whispered, having to lean down a little because of his stupid height.

I wanted to laugh.

The only thing I was nervous about was his closeness and my capability of restraining myself. I turned and gave him a slow smile. I subtly -but obvious enough for him to notice- looked down his body. I noticed him draw in a ragged breath when I looked near his torso but then I realised that from his angle, it would look like I was checking out what was in his pants. I quickly continued my scoop back up to his face, successfully acting natural, like I hadn't been checking out his 'downstairs' when, to be honest, I _kind of_ had for like two seconds at the end.

Oh how I _wanted _to be in his pants.

With a devilish smile I walked past him and up to Lissa and Christian.

"This must all be very confusing to you." Lissa said when I caught up to her.

_Yeah, like your voice in my head._ I thought. Then stressed that maybe it worked in reverse.

"A little." I agreed.

"Sometimes it's better to be confused." Christian added, looking across Lissa to me. "It's easier than getting caught up in the politics."

"Oh…" I replied, not really knowing what he meant by politics, and not wanting to ask encase it was a really long, really boring story. As far as human politics go, that was highly likely. "Hey! Aren't you guys going to, like, turn to ash?" I exclaimed, looking around to see if anyone else had even considered the possibility. "Am I going to?" Being part vampire, who knows?

Dimitri and Alberta turned their heads slightly, smiling and shaking their heads before continuing their previous conversation. Lissa and Christian gave me blank looks.

I jerked my finger up to the sky.

"God is excepting of everyone." Christian smirked, obviously pleased with himself.

I screwed my nose up at him and turned to Lissa, rather than her uncivilized boyfriend.

"The sun doesn't hurt us, it just makes us uncomfortable if we are in it for too long."

"Oh."

What kind of vampire didn't turn to ash in the sun?

"Do you sleep in coffins?"

"Not usually. Sometimes if we are feeling a bit cliche." Christian answered, his straight face making it impossible to tell if he was joking.

"Do you have fangs?"

"Only the best." He grinned widely, showing long thin teeth, otherwise hidden.

Before I could ogle at them, we had come to a building.

"This is Headmistress Kirova's office. Only Dimitri and I can come in with you, sorry." Alberta said, opening the door as she did.

"I'll see you soon!" Lissa said, throwing her arms around me quickly before walking off with Christian, babbling to him as inaudibly as her emotions running through me.

"Come on." Dimitri spoke softly, resting his hand on my back and guiding me in after Alberta.

A lady behind a chunky desk looked up and gestured to the seat opposite her.

"You must be Rosemarie." She spoke, her voice annoyingly nasally.

"Rose." I corrected, slumping into the seat.

I could tell we were going to have some run ins.

"I have been thinking through this situation and I am afraid it just isn't possible for you to attend the Academy." She leant her chin on her hands, looking over the rim of her glasses at me.

"But Headmistress, Rose has great potential." Dimitri spoke up, stepping away from his place by the wall.

"But no training. She is seventeen. Dhampir's are trained since elementary, she is hopelessly behind." The words alone were not offensive, but I had a feeling that this lady could be saying anything and it would come out harshly.

"She will learn quickly. It's in her blood." He countered, making Kirova's lips pull into a tight line.

"Guardian Belikov, it is too late-"

"I'll train her." He cut her off.

"You think a couple extra trainings are going to make a world of difference?"

"I can train her when he cannot." Alberta added, stepping away from the wall too. Was it some guardian thing to feel at home against a wall. I don't think I would ever feel comfortable against a wall unless Dimitri was pushing me into it with his body. I glanced down at my hands and hoped I wouldn't be noticeably red. "My previous novice has just graduated so I am a free mentor."

Kirova contemplated for a moment before plucking off her glasses and rubbing her forehead.

"Fine. But only on a trial basis. Your timetable will be given to you before classes start. Guardian Belikov, you are to start training within the hour, up until first period bell and then straight after the last."

"Of course. Thank you." Dimitri bowed quickly before turning to leave.

"At the end of the week, Rose is to confirm her plans on staying here or leaving." Kirova added, we all nodded.

We walked out of her office, not wanting to let her change her mind.

"This is your room number, Rose. Dimitri will show you the way to the dormitory." Alberta handed me a piece of paper with a number on it and walked off in the other direction.

"This way." Dimitri guided me through the school just as a few other students were making their way out of the dorms, the dhampir dorms.

As we walked, I noticed a couple of them look our way, but none came up to us, until one person did.

His face was freckled and he had red hair, but was quite cute nonetheless.

"Hey, Rose Hathway, right?" He asked. "I'm Mason."

I gave him my friendliest smile to try mask my confusion about whether I should remember him from somewhere.

He seemed to notice my confusion and smiled embarrassedly. "Sorry. You won't know me, but you're like a celebrity here because of your Mom."

"Oh, well, I hope to see you around." I shook his hand firmly -trying not to feel awkward about the formalness of it- and grinned sweetly when he fumbled with his hair nervously.

"If you need anything just give me a yell." He recovered with a smile, nodding respectfully at Dimitri before leaving.

"Someone's got an admirer." Dimitri chuckled.

"He was just being friendly, like I was."

"If that's you friendly, then you'd be lethal when intentionally flirting." His smile was lost as he turned to continue through the school.

I blushed viciously and followed behind him, not feeling the need to add that he had definitely felt the lethalness of my flirting.

We came to a stop at a large building when he turned to me, his face seeming blank and expressionless.

"Meet me in the gym in half an hour, your bags should be up there." He spoke in monotone, his face just as neutral.

And then he walked away. What the hell?

I stood there for a few moments, wondering what the heck that was about, and then made my way to my room, the guardian in the hall greeting me.

Just as he said, I found my bags in my room and searched through them for something suitable for exercise, deciding on a pair of jogging shorts and a tank. I laced my shoes hastily and all but ran to the gym.

I pushed open the heavy door and looked around, spotting Dimitri on one of the mats near the far wall. I walked over to him and he tossed a novel aside, getting to his feet.

"Okay, we are going to do laps to start, we need to get your cardio up." He said, a mischieveous glint in his eyes.

"Okay." I stepped closer to him, my heart beating frantically. "What kind of cardio?"

Dimitri's eyes bore deep into mine, a smirk pulling on his lips as he too stepped closer. He leant in slowly, his hands moving to grip my hips. For some reason, his weird behavious came to mind and I couldn't ignore it, eventhough I didn't want anything to interupt our second kiss.

"Why did you act all funny before? Outside the dorm?" I asked in a whisper, his lips inches from mine.

He stopped moving closer and looked as though he was thinking back to when I meant, then a smile twitched on his lips.

"If I didn't try to mask all my emotions, there is no telling what I would have done to you and the guardian in the hall would have seen." He whispered, bringing my bottom lip between his teeth.

A moan escaped my lips and I pulled him closer to me, a growl from him making my insides tingle. I moved my fingers to the hem of his shirt and was just about to slip them inside when he pulled back abruptly, a playful smile firmly on his face.

"Running time." He encouraged, slapping me on the back. His hand lingered on my shoulder blade, then slowly ran down my back, his eyes following his hand.

"Running time." He whispered again, his eyes never leaving his hand on my lower back.

A few seconds later he shook his head and smiled at me, pushing me through the gym door.

If only we were entirely alone and his hand _didn't _stop lingering.

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**Thank you for reading! Sorry it took so long, it's kind of a rough time =S Please Review and stay faithful! xx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 is here! Sorry about the wait and thank you so much for still reading and reviewing. I re-read reviews now and then hehe it makes me want to cry how nice you guys are. ****So keep up the good work =D  
I love Last Sacrifice! AMAZING!**  
**Thank you x**

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**Chapter 13**

I thought I was fit, but Dimitri took being fit to a whole new level.

We were jogging around the outside fields and I was nearly passing out from lack of oxygen.

"Come on, Rose." Dimitri called from a few meters in front of me. "A Strigoi won't give you a head start."

"I. Can't. Breathe." I panted from my half-arsed jog behind him.

"You won't be either way if a Strigoi is chasing you." Dimitri circled back around and came up to my side, slowing to match my pathetic pace.

"Rose, you know you're going to have to improve. Warm down." He told me, grabbing my wrist and making me slow to a walk with him.

"I know." I replied, panting. "But you could break me in a bit slower."

"I could." He agreed, but didn't contribute any further statements.

We walked back to the gym and slumped onto the mats, I rubbed my forehead from the sudden hum of a headache. Dimitri looked concerned and got up to get water bottles for us both.

I didn't have time to say thank you before I was already downing the entire contents. Dimitri chuckled softly and shook his head just as Lissa burst through the gym doors.

Ah, the mastermind behind my headache.

Her emotions flew through me like a tidal wave, but I still managed to acknowledge how strange it was for me to just accept it.

"Rose!" She exclaimed excitedly, waving a piece of paper in the air. "Here's your timetable. Good morning, Guardian Belikov." She smiled warmly and sat down.

"Hello, Princess." He replied, I waved a hand at him, dismissing their formal greetings.

"Gimme." I snatched the paper from Lissa and looked through my classes. "Agh!" I groaned when I noticed the amount of classes per day, every day.

Eight! Were the freaking kidding me?

"We have afternoon classes together, except Calculus." Lissa said sort of awkwardly, I looked down the list of classes and saw the reason.

_Pre-calculus._ Figures I would be stuck in a stupid class.

"How come only the afternoon?" I asked, trying to imagine Lissa doing Combat training.

"Moroi and Dhampirs take separate classes." Dimitri spoke up then. "Moroi can control elements, like fire and earth, and eventually become stronger in one. While Dhampirs train physically, Moroi learn to manipulate their element."

Well, that was sort of cool.

"What's your element?" I asked Lissa.

I wasn't looking at her face, but I didn't have to.

Her bubbly mood suddenly shattered and dark, depressing emotions rolled into me like rough waves crashing along a shore. I looked up at her then and noticed she was twirling the tips of her hair.

"I haven't specialized." She spoke so softly I nearly didn't hear it.

Way to put your foot in it, Rose.

"Oh…well…" I glanced at Dimitri uneasily, he was looking down. "Maybe you're just a late bloomer."

"Yeah." She replied with a smile that I thought may only be for effect. "I'll leave you to train. See you at lunch?"

"Okay, bye." I told her, turning to Dimitri once she had gone through the gym door. "Is it normal to not specialize?"

Dimitri looked up at me then, shaking his head. "No." He said softly. "It is unheard of."

I groaned and got to my feet.

"I swear I keep saying the wrong thing." I admitted, running my hands down my face roughly, probably pulling my skin in all different ways considering the mocking smile on Dimitri's face.

"You do." He agreed. When I was about to protest, he reached his hand up to my face and ran his thumb along my lower lip. "But it makes you who you are. Never be sorry for that."

Although his words made my knees weak and heart flutter, I would never let him know it. So being the person I was, I tried to cover my emotions with jokes.

"Get that out of a fortune cookie, Comrade?"

Okay, not one of my finer moments, but it served the purpose of getting a smile on his face.

For the remainder of the training, he had me doing weights. I wanted to get straight down to the fighting part, but I guess I had to crawl before I could walk.

After training, I hit the showers and then made my way to my first class, which was basically just another training session in the same gym. Talk about excitement.

I noticed Dimitri walk in soon after we had started and stand near the far wall. At first I was going to walk up to him and ask why he was stalking me, but when I managed to pull my eyes away from him for more than two seconds, there were other guardians along the walls too.

When he caught my eye he winked, but his face soon turned to a barely concealed angry expression.

"Hey, Rose." A guy said from behind me. The voice sounded familiar. Mason.

"Hey." I replied, trying to keep the smug smile off my face.

Dimitri was jealous.

"Want to be my partner?" He asked confidently. "I know you haven't been training through school like the rest of us so I'll go easy on you."

"Thanks." I said though I slightly took offence to his comment.

Even if I had been training all my life I bet he still would have gone easy on me.

"You'll be up to speed in no time, though. With Belikov as your mentor."

To be honest, I wasn't really listening to what it was that he was saying. I was to busy trying to glimpse Dimitri from the corner of my eye. "Hmm?"

"Belikov." Mason repeated. "He's like the best of the best."

"Really?" I mused, turning full on to face Dimitri, giving him a slow smile, which he hastily diverted his eyes from.

"Don't give the poor guy a heart attack." Mason laughed, slapping me on the back and walking over to the other students, I suppose he meant for me to follow.

Apparently Mason was taking this class.

He had us doing exercises to warm up and stretch out our muscles, and I noticed how few girls there were in this class. Come to think of it, I had never made the connection between the Belikov's being dhampirs and the dhampirs here. Obviously girls were trained here, but Dimitri's sisters were all very much regular girls.

I made a mental note to ask him later.

Meanwhile, Mason was giving me the run around when the warm up ended. Dimitri's insistent laps and weights were bad enough, and I had even encouraged proper fighting, but I now realised how severely stupid I was.

Sure, among regular people -_humans_- I would clean up, but amongst dhampirs, _my _kind, I was like a child. I was glad to be paired with Mason, sort of. It meant he went easy on me, but I didn't much like being a charity case.

Every time I would try to get a hit in, I would some how end up on the mats, sometimes conveniently with Mason on top of me. Mason seemed to not mind though, even going the distance to purposely land on me, or 'accidently' manage to somehow get me to win and end up on top of him, which happened far to quick for me to even register.

One particular time, I went to knock Mason's legs out from under him with a fair chance of actually achieving it, when he tackled me to the ground. He hovered over me and pressed his palm over my chest with a cheeky grin.

I was used to the minor groping, but usually there was some encouragement on my part.

"Getting a bit fresh there, don't you think?" I gave him an expectant smirk, which he returned confidently.

"It symbolises us staking a Strigoi. If you can manage to do it." He replied, though the shine in his eye told me otherwise, as did how he landed, how some parts of him were suspiciously close to parts of me.

"Righto." I replied, moving slightly so he got the memo to get off me.

As I rolled away and got to my feet, I saw Dimitri's eyes burning with rage when turned on Mason, but when the were flicked to me, they burned with something different entirely.

Lust? Hunger, perhaps?

The possibilities made my stomach drop, in a good way though, like on a roller coaster, and Mason called us all to warm down.

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**Thank you for reading again! hehe REVIEW! Please? =)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 is here!  
You asked me to make it longer so it is =D you asked me to update sooner so I did =D If that's not commitment, I don't know what is! hehe. okay so maybe it isn't really _that_ long, but it's longer than the rest and I didn't want to cut it off at some random place. Sorry =S  
Anyway thank you for all the suggestions and stuff, amazing again hehe  
Review! xx**

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**Chapter 14**

It was the most painful, but probably most fun three classes I had ever had.

After training, it was a theory lesson that wasn't particularly fun, but because I was new I didn't really have to do anything.

The teacher, Guardian Alto, was a dick though.

He looked like a hungry little man just searching to tell people off and ask people questions when they didn't put their hand up for the answer. I gritted my teeth and bared through it, the fact that Dimitri was standing at the back of the room could have had something to do with my unusual placid mood.

So on the whole it wasn't too bad.

"You have weight training now, Rose." Dimitri told me when we all left the class room.

His words were strictly professional, but if anyone looked in his eyes they could see the affection.

"I take it you'll be there?" I smirked at him, loving the way he smiled back at me.

"Of course." He told me in a low voice, husky. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

We made it down to the weights room and the guardian taking the lesson nodded respectfully at Dimitri before barking out orders for us to go to certain machines.

Dimitri and I were assigned the bench press so we walked over to it, me standing sort of awkwardly beside it.

"Demonstration, Comrade?"

"If you wanted to see me pump, that's all you had to say." He grinned back, stepping over the bench with one leg and sitting down.

Oh my God. Did Dimitri sort of, kind of make a dirty remark? His accent just made it sound all the more sexy.

"Who said I wanted to see _you_ doing the pumping?" I countered. Dimitri's eyes widened at me and I noticed his breathing was a little shakier than before as he lay down. _Ha. _

"Put those two weights on each side." He directed me with a gesture to two impressive looking discs.

Great. How the hell am I suppose to attempt to even pick them up?

I pushed my mental bantering aside and reached down for the weight, trying not to show the physical strain I was enduring as I picked them up and slide them onto the bar above his head. They were heavy, but manageable one at a time. Once I had two on each side Dimitri showed me how to lock them in.

"Okay. Get to it, Comrade." I slapped his chest, but found that my hand didn't want to move away. Through his light shirt, I could feel his breathing and heart beat maybe a little accelerated.

His chest was rock hard. He is going to make me loose it.

I curled my fingers into a fist, hoping it would make removing my hand easier, and looked at him quickly.

Dimitri was smirking with self satisfaction, but when he locked his eyes with mine he swallowed loudly.

I looked at him and couldn't help drawing my lip into my mouth and biting it slightly.

The truth was I just wanted _him_. Like really, _really _wanted _him_. But not just in a physical knock-my-socks-off kind of way. Emotionally I wanted him too. I wanted to be able to tell him everything that was on my mind and have him comfort me. And to be able to touch him like I was now, in front of everyone without an excuse.

"You mustn't do that, Roza." Dimitri whispered out. His voice was so husky and sexy it only made me bit my lip harder. He reached for my wrist and squeezed it lightly.

"If you do it for any longer, there is no way I will be able to stay on this bench." He told me, though I knew from his voice that he didn't want to stay on the bench at all.

I didn't know what he meant I 'mustn't' do, though. So it was pretty hard to stop doing it.

"What can't I do?" I whispered breathlessly and my eyes skimmed down his body and back up to his face. I bit my lip again.

This wasn't healthy.

"That." He whispered back, pointing to my mouth with a shaky hand.

"Oh…" I dragged out, feeling more confident as I gave him a man-eater smile.

"Or that."

"Should I just wear something that covers from my neck to my ankles too, then?" I joked, it was such a thrill to attract a grown man. Exhilarating even.

"It would probably be best." He smiled back, a dark shine of humour in his eyes. "It just means there would be more to rip off."

I was speechless, it didn't happen much. What do you say to something like that? I most definitely wanted some clothes ripping involving me and him.

"Start pumping, Comrade." I told him, avoiding his eyes.

No matter how much I wanted to keep on the subject, I couldn't take not being able to touch him while saying it.

"I'm going to have to because of you." He murmured almost as if he didn't want me to hear. A quick examination of his face showed that he actually did want me to hear.

"You are a dirty Russian, aren't you?"

"Maybe." He raised an eyebrow at me before he started lifting the bar up and then back to his chest. The movement made the muscles in his arms ripple and I had an urge to reach for them.

After he thought his demonstration was sufficient, he changed the weights and helped me do some lighter ones. I felt extremely uncoordinated but he said I was doing good for a beginner.

"Your sisters aren't guardians?" I asked suddenly, not even sure I had meant to say it.

Dimitri gave me a funny look, but didn't seem as though the question was too personal.

"No. Baia is a dhampir village, but they are not guardians. My sisters have gone through basic training, but it is only to protect themselves and our family."

"So there is an option?" I asked, continuing before he could answer. "There are not that many girls here, is it because they choose a different life?"

"If it wasn't an option, it would be against our rights, but it is looked down on. Many female dhampirs stay home and looked after their children when the Moroi father takes off."

I was looked down on, then. Except it had been my mother that took off.

"So I'm looked down on." I stated, not needing to ask.

Dimitri plucked the bar out of my hands as if it were a feather and put in back on the holder. I sat up and scooted back so he could sit on the bench in front of me. His face looked sad, I wanted to tell him I didn't need anyone's pity.

"No. you are here now. And if you choose to leave, no one will blame you. You have to consider what you want and ignore outside comments. It is your decision." Dimitri's voice was stern as he looked deep in my eyes.

I smiled at him a little sadly just as the Guardian taking the session called us to pack away.

"Don't think about it, Roza." He told me, standing to put away the weights. "You have all week."

I nodded and helped pack away as best I could before leaving for my language class. Sadly, Dimitri wasn't guarding this one.

I sat in the corner, trying to ignore the curious glances I got, and waited until lunch so I could see Lissa, and maybe Dimitri. I wanted to ask him about the Lissa's-voice-in-my-head thing, but thought it was probably better to give it a few days.

When the time came, I hastily walked to the cafeteria, searching for Lissa. She came into view, waving her hand in the air from a crowded booth.

"Sit here." She told me, pushing herself and Christian further into the booth so I could fit beside her.

I looked at the other people here and spotted Mason, I grinned at him. Despite his flirting, he was really nice and made me feel welcome. I was introduced to some of the other people at the table as well. They were a friendly lot to get along with and I realised I had some classes with them.

Christian and Lissa went off to the 'feeders.' I didn't ask what that was, but it sounded kind of dirty. But, whatever, if that's what they are into.

The bell rang and we all went separate ways, but I did catch up with Lissa in a few afternoon classes.

Alberta had taken my afternoon practise because Dimitri had a guarding shift, so I hadn't seen him since weight training. She trained me a lot easier than Dimitri did.

Once we were done, I had a shower and got changed, heading back to my room, but not before hearing a muffling coming from around the side of the gym. I recognised Alberta's and Dimitri's voices. Curiosity getting the better of me, I leant up close to the gym wall so I could hide but also hear their conversation.

"… I am sure you would not like to betray Rose's trust in you, would you?" Alberta's pacing around the corner halted, my cheeks burned that my name had come up. "From what I can see, her not being able to trust you would probably break her heart as much as it would yours."

"Alberta, she has known me, _seen_ me, for what? A week? She _couldn't_ care about me." Dimitri's voice was strained, almost sad.

"But you did not refuse your feelings." Alberta stated, amusement in her wise voice but Dimitri didn't answer, even though I desperately wanted him to. "And I am not lying to you when I say it is not to soon for you to have made an impression on Rose."

There was silence around the corner, my heart beating so loud I was sure they could both hear it. Why wouldn't he answer? I desperately needed answers from him.

"All I'm saying is, don't tell her everything, but don't shut her out, Dimitri." Alberta's footsteps headed around the front of the gym. Before she could catch me for eavesdropping, I slipped back into the gym and ran over to the changing rooms, pretending I was just walking out of them.

I thought about what I had actually discovered from listening in on their conversation. Not much. I had more questions than I had before, with absolutely no answers at all.

Curiosity was a bitch.

Before I could think too much about it, I went to my room. Dinner and the remainder of the night passed pretty uneventfully and I was already getting ready for bed. I had just got changed into a tank and shorts for bed when there was a knock on my door. I walked over to it and opened it, smiling wildly and leaning on the door frame when I noticed who it was.

"Hello, Roza." He smiled warmly and I stepped back, letting him in and shutting the door behind him.

The sight of him made me jittery as did the conversation him and Alberta had. It may not have been very informative, but I knew that he had some feelings for me.

He went straight to my desk and sat down on the chair. I went and sat on the bed, leaning against the wall facing him. "I missed you." I whispered, breaking the silence.

He looked up from where he had been inspecting his hands, his face shining with happiness. "I missed you too, Roza."

I smiled, looking down as a blush captivated my face.

I was suddenly so nervous. It was kind of awkward, but not because of him, I was doing it all myself. Apart from the thing in the gym before my first class, Dimitri and I had only had that one kiss on the plane.

I crossed my legs and tried to ignore the funny feeling between us.

I looked over to him and saw that he was watching me, his cheeks slightly red too. I patted the bed next to me, inviting him so sit by me.

He smiled warmly and got up, pulling off his duster and draping it over the desk chair before sitting on the bed and scooting back until he was leaning against the wall too. I turned so I was partly facing him, resting the side of my head on the wall. I wanted to say something to ease the awkwardness, but he bet me to it.

"I'm sorry about the things I said earlier in the weights room." He spoke quickly, turning his head to look at me as well. "You're very young, I shouldn't be saying those kind of things to you."

"I didn't mind." I told him honestly. "At all. But you think I'm too young?"

"You are young, probably _too _young, but I…" He trailed off, struggling as he grabbed my hand and rubbed his thumb along the back. "I don't care. Once you are eighteen it won't matter. I have never met anyone like you."

"Neither have I." I whispered back, not breaking eye contact.

Carefully, he reached his unoccupied hand to my waist and pulled me closer to him. His hand rubbed little circles on my lower back and he leant in ever so slowly, he drew his face closer down to mine. His head tilted and his lips parted. Like last time, he gauged my reaction and like last time, I wondered why he thought he needed to. With eyes closed, his lips softly touched mine for the second time and I felt completely at home.

The kiss was sweet and stayed that way. I thought it wouldn't have, considering earlier and I thought I wouldn't have wanted it to stay sweet, but I did. His hand skimmed from mine to hold my waist as well and he slowly moved to push me gently into the pillows with him hovering over me. His lips fused with mine softly, moving slowly with an intoxicating rhythm. One hand moved up from my waist to my cheek. He pulled back, peaking my lips a few more soft times before moving to lay beside me.

I followed his movements and smiled when I met his eyes. He stroked my cheek with his thumb and then brushed my hair behind my ear.

"Can you stay tonight?" I whispered, afraid he would freak and run.

"If you want me to-"

"I do." I said quickly, getting a chuckle out of him.

He smiled and kicked off his shoes, adjusting the covers over us both without getting up. Earlier today, I would have thought this situation was going to turn out completely different. Like the kiss wouldn't stay sweet and our clothes wouldn't stay on. But this was perfect and I didn't want anything else right at that moment.

I rolled over away from him to set my alarm clock and he curled around my back, his arms draped over my stomach. As I was finishing setting the alarm, I felt him shift forward to brush my hair away from my neck and place a light kiss on the skin there. "You are beautiful." He murmured against my skin.

I shivered and turned back to him, snuggling against his chest as he encircled me in his arms.

"Goodnight, Roza."

"Goodnight." I replied in bliss.

Well I _was _in bliss until I was suddenly not in my own head, not myself anymore.

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	15. Chapter 15

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**Chapter 15**

Hot lips kissed along my jaw line. Well, not my jaw line, but it felt as though it was.

What's happening? I wanted to scream but the only thing I heard were soft moans. I felt cool bars push against my back roughly, but I didn't want to move away from the lips that tugged on my earlobe despite the sharp pain. The bars were uncomfortable, digging in on either side of my spine, my head tilted back against a wall.

I felt my hands move of their own accord, one moving to wrap through thick, silky hair, the other moving to grip the bed sheets beside me.

The lips moved to the hollow beneath my ear and sucked on it softly as a hand pushed my knee down gently, a pressure moving on top of my now flat legs.

I tried to open my eyes, but they were not mine to open. They were closed, caught up in the moment as my heart accelerated, and somewhere that seemed very far off, my real heart was doing the same. The lips moved down my neck, along my collar bone and brushed seductively on the line of my camisole.

"Christian…" I moaned in a voice that wasn't mine.

Oh my God, I was Lissa.

Well, not technically, but instead of just getting waves of her emotions, I was actually experiencing what she was, and it was exciting me despite my control.

Finally, she opened her eyes and I glimpsed around the room. I was sitting against the headboard of a bed, Christian sitting over my legs and doing very inappropriate, but sexy, things to me.

He lifted his head from kissing along the top of my camisole and pressed his lips roughly against mine.

I wanted to slap him, but Lissa didn't, she encouraged him, grabbing his hands and moving them to the hem of her top.

I want out! No way was I having sex with Christian, even if it wasn't really me. I struggled, trying to wrench myself out of the dream as he lifted the top off her -me? us?- and showered her chest and stomach with wet, scorching kisses. No, I didn't want him, but it felt so good…

_No. _I chastised myself. _You don't want Christian._

His hand skimmed up my skin -_Lissa's_ skin- and pushed one of the bra straps down her/my shoulder and I felt Lissa growing impatient. She reached out and yanked his shirt over his head, running her hands down his chest, _making _me feel it.

Out, out, out! I urged as I struggled again, trying to over-right the hormones raging within Lissa, and in turn, me. Then I was shaking.

And I was suddenly out.

I gasped up right as I opened my eyes, nearly knocking Dimitri out from where he hovered over me, his expression concerned.

Ah, Dimitri was the shaker in all this.

"Roza? Roza, what's wrong?" He asked.

I was so relieved to see him and not Christian that I cut off what he was going to say -asking what's wrong again, no doubt- and kissed him roughly, locking my arms behind his neck and pulling him down on top of me.

At first, he froze, but then suddenly he was kissing me back hungrily. All the passion, jealousy and flirting from before came rushing to us as we scrambled to distinguish the burning flame between us by pushing closer together.

His lips smothered mine, moving against them quickly as he opened my mouth with his. I opened my mouth eagerly and jolted when his tongue struck mine.

He was now fully on top of me, the blankets disregarded somewhere else. He pushed one of his legs between mine so he could lay flatter against me, closer to me. I wrapped a leg around his and moved my hands from his hair down his heaving chest. My hands reached the bottom and slipped back up underneath, my nails dragging over the bumps of hard muscle.

He let out a growl into my mouth that made me dig my nails in a little as I returned the growl, he pulled his shirt off quickly and pressed me firmly against his bare chest.

He sucked in a heavy breath and brought my lower lip into his hot mouth with it, flipping us over so quickly that I landed on a certain part of him heavily. The certain place I landed on made me blush as I could feel it against me.

"Ah, Roza." He moaned into my mouth at the same time I jumped from a sudden movement he made with his hips.

It wasn't that I didn't want to kiss him, but the movement of him bucking his hips up made me sit straight up, a moan catching in my throat as my hands fisted against his chest.

After a few seconds, I realised he had frozen and all I could hear was our heavy breathing. I glanced down at him and the wild grin on my face dropped.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, his eyes still wide with shock over what he had done, I suppose.

"Don't be sorry." I told him sincerely, but he reached forward slowly anyway.

He put his hands just above my hips and gently pulled them away from his. He hadn't done it on purpose, but when he pulled me away, it caused us to brush together slightly. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, the moan getting caught. He made an inaudible grunt.

We were still for a moment but he soon moved my hips aside, and I removed myself from straddling him.

I settled beside him next to the wall and watched as his chest rose and fell quickly, though it slowly began to calm.

"Please stay." I whispered, worried I had gone over the line. "Don't go."

He turned and smiled at me sweetly, though there was an undertone of apology. "I would stay forever if I could."

"Gonna hog the pillow forever too then, _if you can_, Comrade?" I whispered again, trying to make him smile.

He quickly moved over a bit and I scooted closer, but not too close encase he decided to change his mind and couldn't stay.

"I'm sorry." I told him.

"What? Why?" He asked, incredulous as he pulled me against his side.

"For starting that stuff." I replied, grinning stupidly as I slid a hand over his naked chest and huddled into his side.

"I got carried away. You should be able to kiss me without me getting worked up." He told me, smiling more genuinely now.

"But I kissed you in a worked up sort of way." I replied, my cheeks blazing at the thought of Lissa's sex life fuelling my own.

"You don't have to kiss me like that to get me worked up." He admitted with a confident grin. "Sometimes I see you and I just want to-" He cut off, his words were husky and quick, his hands clenching the air in front of him as they came out, like he was demonstrating.

"Want to what?" I smirked, though in truth I was a hyperventilating mess on the inside, thinking about what he wanted to do.

He gave me a slow, dead-sexy smile and his fingers glided over my arm across his stomach. "Do dirty, inappropriate, extremely graphic…" He trailed off, not knowing how to continue, but he didn't need to, his words -especially in his Russian accent- were making me crazy. "…Things to you."

I blushed wildly and hid my face against his chest, my stomach flipping over every second.

"But it isn't just about that stuff." He told me, probably worried that I thought he was using me. "That stuff is good, and you are incredibly sexy, but there is more. At risk of sounding corny, sometimes I just want to hold you and be with you, not to kiss but to see how you react to things, see things how you do."

I was so touched by what he had said, that I couldn't even come up with a good reply.

"Your right, it does sound corny." I grinned at him, reaching up to kiss his cheek.

He smiled at me quickly before looking up at the ceiling. I looked up too, just to see what he was looking at when he propped himself up with his elbow, turning to face me.

I looked back at him and copied his movement so we were level. "What?" I whispered, the way he was looking at me making me extremely self-conscious.

He swallowed loudly and slowly reached forward with his free hand and held my jaw. I thought he was going to kiss me again so I was surprised when he spoke.

"Roza…" He sighed. I kind of wanted to tell him to hurry up because I really needed one of the sweet kisses. "I think I might be falling for you."

Well, thank _God_ I didn't tell him to hurry up.

I stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying. He loved me? How? How could someone like that ever love someone like me?

During my staring, I guessed he was probably waiting for an answer. I swallowed loudly as I prepared to tell him how I felt, knowing the consequences of admitting it out loud and how I might get my heart broken.

"I know I'm falling for you." I said, my voice sounding strong despite my bundled nerves.

Dimitri smiled so widely it made me want to cry and pulled me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around him, like he did me, and hugged him as tightly as I could manage.

I don't know how it happened. How do you love someone before even really knowing them? The answer is that you either don't really, or looks are clouding your judgment. I knew his looks were definitely judgment-clouding worthy, but I also knew it was the complete truth.

I don't know when I started to fall for him, or even when I decided I could, but sure enough, I found myself hanging on his every word and trembling over his scent alone. If this wasn't love, I was scared shitless about what it could entitle. At the moment I could barely concentrate on anything but his perfect face. The way his brown eyes seemed to hold so much more colour and life than any other colour could ever manage. How his lips smoothed out into a smile that would communicate so many different things.

I loved Dimitri Belikov.

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**Third in the line of quick updates =) Hope you liked it. Please Review and tell me. Thank you x**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey! Another chapter because you guys are amazing at reviewing! =D Thank you soooo much to all of you!  
Also, I just wanted to say thank you to a reviewer who pointed out that I sometimes use funny words for things. I'm really sorry. I am from New Zealand so I have some different, and honestly retarded, ways of saying things. I'm really sorry if it's confusing to anyone but hopefully you can sort of get what I'm trying to say. =)  
Thank you for reading!  
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**Chapter 16**

I was having a very pleasant Dimitri-dominated dream, when I was awoken by a persistent buzzing sound.

I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut and refusing to acknowledge that it was time to wake up for training. I rolled over from my side onto my stomach and buried my head in the pillow to drown out the sound.

That was when I noticed I wasn't alone in my bed.

A low chuckled rumbled from beside me as an arm stretched over my head to turn off the alarm.

I froze for just a moment before last night came crashing back to me. I cringed at the memory of Christian's and Lissa's late night hook up. Then what that had caused between me and Dimitri…

Dimitri Belikov was in my bed! I could die happy.

I rolled back over eagerly to Dimitri, my face ending up inches in front of his bare chest.

"Good morning, Roza." He murmured, his voice husky from sleep.

I drew in a raged breath and moved my lips hesitantly to his chest, kissing his skin softly and agonizingly slow. "Morning, Comrade." I whispered back, my voice a little hoarse too.

He sighed quietly and tightened the arm that was draped over my waist tighter, drawing me closer to him. I looked up at him and smiled as he lent down to kiss my forehead just as softly.

"Training time?" I asked, trying to not let the dread show in my voice.

His eyebrows pulled together, but there was something about the expression that didn't seem like concern, more like regret. I wanted to ask him if he regretted ever being involved with me, if he regretted staying the night, but I couldn't bring myself to let that kind of heartbreak consume me.

He gently brushed my hair back behind my ears, his brows relaxing as if the motion was calming him.

"I think we can afford to miss training once." He smiled again, all traces of the previous regret gone.

I realised I could tell him anything.

I knew he would listen and help me always.

"What's wrong, my Roza?" He whispered, his eyes flicking between mine as he tried to understand.

"I need to tell you something." I began, staring him straight in the eye and urging him to understand. "When we first came here, before we meet Lissa, I felt all these emotions, and they weren't mine. I know it sounds crazy and I don't know how I know, but I am positive that they were Lissa's."

I paused, reading his face for signs of his mental plans of getting me shipped off to a psyche unit. His face was twisted, but only in attempt to understand, not calculating plans, so I continued.

"And last night, it was like I got...like, sucked into her head. I was her. I could feel everything she did, and could hear everything she thought." I took a deep breath once I was finished, ready to defend myself if he started making accusations, but he didn't. His eyes were examining my face, his brain clicking together my works.

"You were with her last night? When I woke you up?" He asked, his face serious.

I nodded.

"There are legends." He began, I listened intently. "Guardian's have had bonds with their Moroi. Bonds that have allowed them to know where their Charge is and feel what they do. It hasn't happened for centuries, and we are not even sure if it ever actually happened."

They way he talked was like he had read an encyclopaedia, but I was too highly strung to make a joke of it.

"But I'm not her Guardian. I haven't meet her before coming here."

"I know." He agreed, his face thoughtful. "That's why I don't understand. For now, I think it's best if we keep it to ourselves, but you do owe it to Lissa to tell her."

"Yeah, I though it wasn't right to spy." I said honestly, she had a right to know that I was getting sneak peaks of her sex life.

For the hour we were suppose to be training, Dimitri and I lay in my bed. We talked easily, about his family and his love for Western novels. The hour passed quickly and we both had showers -separately to my disapproval- got dressed and headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast. He opened my door for me and followed through it after to lock it.

The hallway in the dhampir dorms was deserted as we began towards the stairs, so I though it was probably safe for a minor PDA.

I stared down at his hand by his side and subtly bumped it with my own. I felt his gaze and looked up to see him staring back at me with that affectionate expression he so often wore when with me. He smiled again before looking forward. I sighed to myself, he hadn't caught my hint.

Before I had time to get really hurt, I heard him swallow loudly and hesitantly nudge my hand back. I smiled at the awkwardness between us both, even though we both wanted the same thing -it was clear- both of us were afraid to make the first move.

It was just holding hands too. How had all the stuff last night been so easy and now I was hung up on trying to grab his hand.

Dimitri straightened at my side, swallowing nervously again before curling his fingers lightly around mine. I felt my cheeks reddening and opened my fingers up so he could knot his through mine.

The feeling of his fingers linked together with mine was an unbreakable feeling. Nothing could part us.

His hand felt white-hot against the skin on mine. It wasn't painful but a almost comfortable burning sensation. His fingers were knotted through mine tightly and he occasionally tightened his grip or rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand. My face was constantly cast in a glow of red and I let my hair fall over my shoulder to create a one-way window like the windows in a police station -I could peak at him but he couldn't see me.

There was a slight smile playing on the corners of his mouth and his eyes were alight with happiness. He lifted his free hand to rake it through his still damp hair after he had showered.

When he let that hand fall back to where it was before, I noticed a slight shaking, nervous. I couldn't hold back the smile that was trying desperately to escape across my tingling lips.

I could still feel the burn of where his lips and hands had been the night before.

Once we reached the last couple of the stairs, we both knew we had to reluctantly let go. He lifted our intertwined fingers to his mouth and brushed his smooth lips against my fingers, his eyes locked with mine the entire time.

I grinned at him, not even trying to hide my blush, and reached up on my tip toes to kiss his cheek quickly. Well, I meant for his cheek, my lips actually connected with the corner of his mouth.

When I pulled back to my normal height, I started at him, waiting to see if I had gone too far.

He gave me a smile that made my knees weak and slammed me against the wall, pressing his body against mine as he kissed me desperately.

The stairs made it kind of awkward, with our heights being so different anyway, but he seemed too preoccupied to care.

I kissed back just as roughly and knotted my fingers in his hair. His hands ventured to my hips and gripped them tightly, pulling them against his. The contact set my skin ablaze as I gasped into his mouth. I felt his lips stretch into a smile against my lips and I bit down on his lower lip, more roughly than usual.

He pulled back quickly and gave me a funny look, his admiring smile surprising me.

"That's what you get for teasing me." I grinned, running my index finger down his chest to the waistband of his jeans and then back up to his collarbone slowly, attempting to be seductive.

Apparently my attempt was successful because his eyes clouded with lust and his breathing deepened.

I took a step closer and readied myself for another round, but he caught my wrist in an iron grip.

"If you don't stop, we won't make it to breakfast." He gave me a sly smile, one I thought I would never see on his perfectly controlled and masked face. A smile that showed me he didn't want to make it to breakfast.

"Okay." I said perkily, reaching up to peak his lips quickly before jumping down the remaining steps and scoping out if there were any guardians down here. Nope.

Once I finished my observations, I turned and smiled sweetly, innocently.

He just shook his head and followed.

When we reached the cafeteria, I wasn't thrilled about having to part ways with Dimitri, but knew it was as good a time as any to tell Lissa about the 'bond.'

"See you at training." Dimitri told me as we entered the cafeteria before speaking in a low voice. "I'll miss you." His face was perfectly professional, acting as if we were only talking about strictly school stuff.

"We can't just skip again?" I spoke low, seductively, but made sure my face mimicked his.

"I said once, Roza."

"Fine." I groaned. "I'll miss you too, by the way." I replied, keeping my pitch and expression neutral.

With that, we went separate ways; me to the table with the others, Dimitri off to do what I only knew as 'Guardian stuff.'

"Hey, Rose." Lissa smiled pleasantly, I smiled back but didn't bother sitting down.

"What did Belikov want?" Christian asked and I forced myself to respond normally, not with the venom I felt towards him.

_None of your business_ would probably convince him to make it his business.

"Training." I groaned and turned to Lissa. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Concern rushed to me through the 'bond,' it felt good to put a name to the strange connection.

She hesitated only a moment before shuffling out of the booth.

"I was going to the feeders anyway." She told me, kissing Christian quickly. "We can talk on the way. See you in class." She said to him.

"Okay." I agreed as she stood beside me and we began walking. Suddenly a thought occurred to me and I spun back around to Christian. "Hey, Christian? What's your element?"

He gave me a devilish smile and pointedly moved his hand lower, concealed from others by the table, but I could see. His fingers twitched slightly and then a ball of fire rested on his palm. I tried not to show my awe.

Hmm. Interesting. I don't know why, but for some reason I thought it would be water, or ice or something because of his eyes. But I realised that probably didn't have anything to do with it.

"Christian!" Lissa snapped in a hushed voice giving him a scowling look before glancing around quickly.

"Tisk tisk, Sparky." I retorted, spinning on my heels and pulling Lissa with me towards where I had been told the feeders were.

Just as we were about to reach the door, I turned to her.

"Lissa, this is really hard to say." I scrutinized her face, waiting to see if there would be a _right _time to tell her.

"What is it, Rose? You can tell me."

"I don't know how or why, or if it's just one-way, but I think we are bonded." I blurted, her head cocked to the side as she tried to understand. "You know, like it the legends and stuff."

She studied my face for a few moments and then something in her eyes showed me her brain understood. She let out a half-gasp and held her hand to her mouth.

I waited for her to calm herself.

"You can… read my thoughts?" She asked after a few moments, her voice a whisper.

"No, not like that. I can…_sense_ them." I told her. "And last night, for the first time, I was…sucked into your head."

Crap. Probably shouldn't have mentioned that, considering the deep red that was now colouring her cheeks. "When last night?"

I nodded slowly, awkwardly, and she hid her face in her hands, her embarrassment brushing to me mentally.

"I got out before…anything happened…" I started awkwardly, this was _so _not the conversation I wanted to be having. "Don't worry, Dimitri woke me up."

"Dimitri?" Her voice was surprised. "Dimitri? _Guardian _Dimitri? Why was he there?"

Damn it.

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	17. Chapter 17

**Another update because you guys are so awesome! Thank you again for all your reviews, it really makes my day =)  
Anyway here it is. Sorry if Lissa is a bit unlike herself, but she's really hard to write about because she's so, like angelic and perfect but when I try to capture that she just sounds like a emotionless robot =S But hopefully it'll be okay  
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****Chapter 17**

Well once again my big mouth has dumped me in the shit. What the hell was I suppose to tell her? Dimitri could loose his job because of me.

I looked at Lissa and saw her face contorted in confusion as she tried to make the connections that should never be there.

"He's my mentor." I began, trying to piece the rest of my excuse in my head before she could realise I was doing it. "So he's got to…mentor me and stuff."

Her confusion dispersed then and gave way to a knowing glint in her jade eyes.

"After curfew?" She asked with an eyebrow raised, challenging me to come up with something to cover my tracks.

Lissa wasn't stupid, that much I had already gained -especially since she was in 'advanced calculus.' She knew something was up, she didn't seem like the kind of person that missed much, so it was too late to try act innocent now.

"Okay." I groaned, carrying out the word. "Yes, he stayed over last night. Yes, I know it's wrong because of the age and him being a teacher." Hmm was he a teacher? I added quickly, "Sort of a teacher."

The look she gave me made me want to question whether she knew more about the situation and wasn't telling me, but she spoke before I could voice my suspicions.

"Be careful, okay?" She warned, her face serious. "It's illegal, yes, but he has a lot to loose."

When I nodded, her face shifted and lit up with anticipation as she began gushing to me about Dimitri and I, her mood changing so quickly.

"She just stayed the night? Or what?" She asked as we went through the door to the feeders.

The lady behind the desk told us to sit down and she would come get us when there was a cubicle open.

"It happened on the plane here. But in Russia there was a Strigoi attack." I filled her in on the events leading up to this point, her continuing a constant stream of 'that's so cute' and 'I'm so happy for you,' though she was careful to never say his name.

The lady came back after a few minutes and smiled as she heard us talking about what she would think of as 'a cute boy' in one of our classes.

"This way Princess." She gestured to Lissa before turning to me. "You are also welcome."

Would I see Lissa drink from someone? The thought made me squeamish and I was pretty sure my face had taken on a green tone.

"It's okay, Rose." Lissa assured me as I stood by her. "You don't have to come if you don't want, but it isn't graphically disturbing or anything."

How could sucking blood from someone not be graphically disturbing?

I followed her anyway.

We made it to a small cubicle with two chairs, a plump lady sitting in one as she stared at the plain wall, her fascination making it seem like I was missing something.

"Don't worry." Lissa whispered to me as we went into the cubicle. "They are all like this."

How many feeders were there? Morbidly, it reminded me of some kind of escort agency, the prostitutes all drugged to within an inch of their lives.

The lady lifted her head as though it were heavy and smiled sort of goofily at Lissa.

"Hello, Princess." She said, her voice dazed.

"Doesn't that get weird?" I asked Lissa, referring to being called 'Princess,' not the weird expression and voice the lady had, though that was also something that definitely weirded me out.

She shrugged and smiled towards the lady as she sat in the seat opposite. "Hello, how are you today?"

"Good, good." The lady replied, shuffling in her seat a little and shifting her hair so her bare neck was in clear view of Lissa. I noticed dozens of faintly shiny scars covering her neck.

"Thank you." Lissa told her before leaning forward and latching onto her neck.

Oh God.

I had to look away. Lissa was right about it not being graphic, but I felt almost like I was intruding on something as a moan escaping the lady's mouth quickly replaced a hiss of pain.

After a few moments, I heard the moans fade and shuffling as Lissa stood, whispering her thanks again to the feeder.

Once we made it back to the cafeteria I turned to Lissa.

"It doesn't hurt?" I asked incredulous, how could sharp teeth biting into you not hurt? "After a while, I mean."

"The initial bite is marginally painful but it soon fades. Apparently you are meant to feel great pleasure from it, even more than sex. Otherwise it wouldn't be so easy to find human volunteers." She explained her face shifting with almost disgust as she explained. "Human feeders' begin to stop feeling the first pain after a while if they do feedings regularly. They also get addicted."

"Other Moroi and dhampirs don't get addicted?"

Lissa's pretty eyes widened. "Oh no, of course not." She began, her eyes calming down as she remembered I was new to all this. "Taking blood from dhampirs and other Moroi is wrong."

"Wrong? Why?" I asked.

So it's okay to take from humans, but because we have vampire in us, it make us superior and puts us above all that?

"It's…_dirty_." She explained as we continued walking. "Taboo."

"Why? What's so wrong with it?" I asked, trying not to show my anger towards the subject. "Is it because of the addiction? Is sex wrong too, then?"

Lissa's brows pulled together as I felt her mind ticking away.

"Ever since I was young they said it was dirty and forbidden, never really explaining why. But now that you ask me why, I don't understand why it is so bad, either."

Emotions flooded to me through the bond, confusion as well as other dark feelings I couldn't pin-point.

"Hey." I put my hand on her shoulder, waiting for her to look at me. "There's probably a good reason."

I didn't believe that, but she might.

"Yeah." She smiled back, but it seemed false.

…

The week passed and I soon found myself back in Kirova's office.

The week had gone quickly, but I had already improved so much, well in the aspect of fighting. I was now able to pin Mason in class without him letting me do it purposefully.

Dimitri and I trained hard before and after classes everyday. In all honesty, we did train, but some of that time it felt like we were training to be able to keep our hands to ourselves. He would stay over in my dorm after curfew most of the time unless he had a shift, meaning I would be left by myself, missing his absence in my sheets..

I was also beginning to come to terms with the bond I had with Lissa, using the link we had to get some insight of how she was feeling. The dark emotions were constantly there, lurking on the edges of her subconscious, and I wondered if maybe there wasn't something quite _right _with her, could it be something to do with her not specialising?

I had learnt to pull myself back when I got sucked into her head, and noted it was only when she was overwhelmed that it happened. Like, for instances, her encounters with Christian.

"Rosemarie, have you decided?" Kirova asked, clasping her fingers together in front of her on the desk as well as bringing me back to the present. "Are you going to continue at the Academy?"

With all that had been going on this week, I had forgotten that today was my deadline, but I knew the answer already.

"Yes." I told her sternly, knowing she would not like it. "I want to become a Guardian."

Dimitri and Alberta were both standing against the walls again, something I had also learnt was Guardian Code. I saw Dimitri slightly stiffen once I gave my verdict and wondered why? Did he not want me to stay?

I looked away quickly, trying to ignore that thought.

"We will notify your mother and tell her of your arrangements." Kirova said as she pencilled something into her day planner. "Princess Vasilissa has also requested that you be assigned her Guardian if you are to graduate."

I didn't like the way she said 'if.'

"You may leave." She continued, returning to whatever she was doing when we got here.

Goodbye to you too.

As we walked out, I saw Alberta touch Dimitri's arm gently, smiling sadly before walking away.

Well, that was random.

"You cheating on me with Alberta, Comrade?" I asked, quickening my pace to get to him quicker.

He grinned at me cheekily, but something changed in his eyes and his face flattened out to an expressionless mask.

"Come on, Rose." He directed as he began walking to the gym. "We have training."

I followed him down to the gym as my thoughts swirled with confusion about what was getting to him now. I got dressed quickly and walked back into the gym.

I found him on one of the mats, looking at the ground rather than reading his book like usual.

This couldn't be good. You know the worlds going to hell when Comrade stops with the Western novel obsession.

"What's up, Comrade?" I asked, sitting on the mat in front of him and reaching my arms to his neck.

He caught my wrists before I could make contact but didn't lift his eyes.

"We can't, Rose." He whispered, still not meeting my eyes.

Maybe this was more serious than I thought.

"What do you mean?" I asked, anger clouding the aching in my chest as he folded my hands back in my lap. "What was this whole past week, then?"

Despite my severe hatred of it, I felt tears pricking behind my eyes. He looked up at me then, his eyes showing the torture he felt.

"It was everything, Roza. Everything I had ever wanted. But we can't be together."

"Why? Because of the age diff-"

"No." He cut me off with a voice that sounded as sad as I felt. "Because it is forbidden for guardian's to be with each other." He held the tops of my arms, stroking his thumbs along my skin. "Especially if we are both to be Vasilissa's."

I stood up out of his grasp and took off towards the door, not wanting him to see me cry.

I heard him call to me but I ignored him and headed to the dorms, glad it was after classes and not many people were milling about.

But there was one person. And I walked straight into him.

"Calm down." He said with a little laugh, reaching to steady me as I almost fell back on my arse.

"Sorry." I muttered, looking up at him.

He was Moroi from what I could tell of his height and narrow frame.

Nowhere near as tall as Dimitri, but fairly tall.

_Stop it, Rose._ I cussed myself. I would _not _let everything relate back to Dimitri Belikov.

My nose picked up a smell that made it wrinkle without my control in what was probably a very unattractive way. I smelt his cologne but sniffed again -slightly so he wouldn't notice and think I was retarded- and identified what it was.

"Smoking kills." I stated, looking him squarely in his eyes.

He smiled back. A smile that made it obvious that he knew he was good looking.

"That's the idea, little dhampir."

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**Ohhh, enter Adrian! Personally he grew on me throughout the books, but I still prefer Dimitri so don't worry all you DimitrixRose fans. Review! Please and Thank you x**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry about the wait but here it is! =D Please keep reviewing  
Thank you x**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

"Don't look now, but we have a jealous onlooker." He spoke softly, his crystalline eyes focussing on something over my shoulder.

Before I could register what he had said, I turned to see what he was talking about. Dimitri stood in the door to the gym, seemingly frozen to his spot.

"I thought I said don't look now." He laughed darkly.

"He's just my mentor." I told him, the words coming out like a groan.

No matter how emotional I got, I could not be seen crying over Dimitri.

I looked up into his eyes as the smirk on his lips faded and he refocused back on me. "Paedophilia is frowned upon."

I try to not voice my alarm. How did he know about Dimitri and me after two seconds of watching us, when we weren't anywhere near each other?

"Don't give me that look." He smirked. "Your dirty little secret is safe with me."

"What?" I shook my head in frustration. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Adrian Ivashkov." He bowed mockingly. "At your service, little dhampir. I'll even bring the fluffy handcuffs."

I rolled my eyes and pushed past him, continuing to my room.

"You didn't refuse." Adrian gloated after I'd taken a few steps. "Is your dirty little secret on hold?"

That made me freeze. I stopped dead in my tracks, anger boiling in my blood. I twisted my head to glare over my shoulder at him, his playful expression suddenly falling.

"I'm sorry." He told me, his voice sincere as he took a step towards me.

I didn't stay to see what else he would do or say, I just made my way back to my dorm, my pace quicker than before.

When I got into my room I slammed the door and flopped on my bed, letting the tears out without the risk of anyone seeing. I stayed in there all throughout dinner, not coming to the door when Lissa came by.

"Just leave her for a bit." I heard Christian's muffled voice from behind the door. "She'll come around."

"But I don't even know what's wrong!" Lissa complained but I could feel the sadness within her.

I hated knowing I was hurting her, but couldn't face her when I was an emotional wreck.

Christian must have convinced her somehow because after a few moments I heard her slip something under the door.

Suddenly, her thoughts were no longer a distant hum, but clear and precise.

_I wonder what's wrong. I hope she's okay._

I could hear the words coming from behind the door and continued to hear them as I also heard her leaving. Once she was completely gone from the building and I could feel the sense of outdoors coming through her, I pulled myself out of her head.

For a while, I lay on my back and stare at the ceiling, the sky lightening ever so slightly. How had my life done such a turn around? How had Dimitri's fingers brushed my skin so gently and affectionately, but now would never lay a hand on me in a more than teacher-student way? How had he been in this _bed _not even twenty-four hours ago and would now never be in it again?

I groaned internally and rolled over, burying my face in my pillow. Why did it still smell like him? If there is a God out there, he certainly has some funny ways of torturing me.

No. It wasn't God's fault, it was mine.

I had been stupid -so, so stupid- to think that Dimitri would stay with me. Stupid to think I could ever have any kind of future with him.

Without warning, there was a burst of happiness through the bond. Not happy like sex-happy, but happy all the same. I tried to decipher the thoughts that were bombarding me but they were too loud, drowning and running on top of each other.

I rubbed my forehead as I got up and walked to the door and the piece of paper Lissa had slipped under it.

"Try not to think so loud, Lissa." I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut for a few seconds.

As I opened them I unfolded the piece of paper, trying to dislodge all Lissa's thoughts in my head. It read:

_Come to my room when you are feeling better.I'm sorry for whatever is x_

I smiled despite all that has happened and changed into jeans and a shirt. I left my room quickly and walked across the quad to her room briskly.

The guardian in her dorm section gave me a funny look but let me up to her room anyway, it must have been the twitches her whirlwind of thoughts were making me do.

I didn't bother knocking to make sure it was her room or not, but just opened the door and stepped in quickly.

When my eyes took in her room and focussed on a pair of snarky green eyes, I nearly flipped me lid.

"What the _hell _are you doing here?" I glared, shutting the door behind me.

Okay, _maybe_ I did actually flip my lid.

"Nice to see you too, little dhampir." He smirked.

"You've met?" Lissa asked, standing from her position opposite Adrian on the floor.

"Unfortunately." I groaned, Christian walking forward and wrapping his arms around her from behind. "Heya, sparky."

He gave me his typical smirk back but eyed Adrian warily.

"Why is he here?" I asked, jerking my chin in the same direction Christian was glaring.

"No need for jealousy, I can be shared." He smiled, though I noticed his hand uneasily drifted to a box in his pocket.

"We found out why Lissa hasn't specialized." Christian cut in, foreseeing the argument I was about to present with Adrian. "Well, not in the usual elements."

The matter at hand mildly diffused my raging mood and I turned to Lissa.

"I'm a spirit user." She said excitedly, probably at risk of jumping up and down if Christian wasn't restraining her. "Like Adrian."

"Spirit?" I asked. "How do you know?"

"We can tell our own kind, if we know it ourselves. Your… _mentor_-" He seemed to have trouble not saying 'dirty little secret.' "-was very interested, though didn't seem surprised when I told him and the one with him."

Dimitri wasn't shocked by Lissa being a spirit user, or whatever the heck that was? Alberta too? M confised expression must have been evident.

And thus Adrian began explaining, using words I thought were far beyond his vocabulary because, well, they were beyond mine. He told me about the healing powers they both possessed, how he could communicate through dreams, how compulsion -something all vampires could use I had learnt- was heightened and about auras; a person's light.

"Speaking of…" He began, studying me intently. "Your's is dark, unhealthy dark." He continued to squint his eyes at me, then they widened in shock. "You are shadow-kissed."

Shadow-kissed? For some reason, I had to seriously concentrate on not laughing.

"What are you on about?" I got out before a chuckle consumed me.

"What's 'shadow-kissed?'" Lissa asked seriously.

Adrian thought for a moment then shrugged, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and frowning at the empty contents. "Like I know. I just heard about it and what it looks like." he pocketed the pack again and looked at me, his eyes regretful. "Can't be good, though."

All my cockiness faded as I looked into his eyes and the utter pity that was there. He may not know what it meant, but he knew it wasn't good, _unhealthy_.

"Guardian Petrov told Headmistress Kirova about the bond. Is that why you are upset?" Lissa asked, taking in my expression and linking it to my anti-social behaviour before.

I thought for a minute, glancing at the clock by Lissa's bed to see if it was too late to pay a visit.

"Rose? What's wrong?" Lissa whispered, stepping out of Christians arms and closer to me.

"It's not important at the moment. We need to round up the troops." I told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her to the door. "We will catch up later." I said to the guys before yanking Lissa out the door, careful not to hurt her.

We found Alberta and Dimitri walking back from the gym and pulled them in tow on our mission to Kirova's office. They stood against the wall when we entered, frowning with confusion the entire time. I went and sat on the seat opposite Kirova.

"You know Lissa is a spirit user, Dimi - Guardian Belikov told you." I stated more than asked, staring her dead in the eye.

When she nodded I continued.

"And I'm shadow-kissed and we are bonded. What does it mean? For me _and _Lissa."

Kirova's beady eyes snapped from my face to Alberta.

"I know you know." I struggled to keep my voice even, especially after my life had already hit rock bottom from Dimitri's rejection.

"The car accident you were in, Rose." Alberta spoke after the period of silence after my words. "The other car…"

"It was mine…" Lissa whispered, speaking slowly as if piecing it together.

I shot her a look, but she missed it, so caught up in understanding.

The accident had happened years ago when I was driving, a car cut me off and when I swerved to dodge it, I hit another. Lissa's apparantly.

Why didn't I remember her? Or much else about the accident?

"You…you were there when I woke up." I spoke, my voice getting agitated by the second as Alberta winced as I shot up from the seat and faced her. My mind was hazy, skipping right from the initial impact to the hospital bed. "Why don't I remember?"

The tension within the room could have been cut with a knife.

_Oh no._ I heard through the bond. I snapped my eyes to Lissa as she backed up against the far wall, pale for even her. I could see she was trying to block me from her brain, concealing something from me, but her attempts were futile. I had seen.

"You compelled me!" I shouted, glancing around to meet each set of eyes with a stony glare. "I can't remember because you chose not to let me!"

"Rose-"

"No!" I screeched, cutting off Dimitri's obvious attempt to reason with me. "Why did you think you could decide for me?" I directed the question at Alberta, then turned to Lissa. "Why would you keep it from me? Were you the one who compelled me? I thought we were friends!"

Lissa looked like she was on the verge of tears and I could feel that she was. She opened her mouth to speak but her voice wouldn't come, her head shook slowly, hesitantly.

"Vasilissa was compelled too." Alberta's voice was unfaltering, yet emotionless.

"Why? What gave you the right! What did you think I _couldn't _handle-"

"You died," she said slowly, meeting my eyes squarely. "Rose. Along with the rest of Vasilissa's line. It created the bond when she brought you back."

When I looked at Lissa, she looked as broken as me. I flicked my eyes to Dimitri's solemn face. He hadn't been surprised when Adrian told him because it was new to his ears.

"You knew." I spat, tears welling as I walked towards the office door. "You knew!"

"Roza, I-" He reached for me but I shook him off.

"Don't."

And then I was running.

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**Yeah, I was in tears writing =( I've already started the next chapter and was crying in that too. Aren't you in for a treat? =D REVIEW! x  
IMPORTANT! I will probably only have one more update before christmas and then I'll be partying it up in Pauanui (little beachy town) and won't be able to update till I'm back. Sorry =S But don't get discouraged in reviewing or reading =) Thank you and Merry Christmas! x**


	19. Chapter 19

**Here is your chapter! Sorry about the wait once again. Please review and tell me EVERYTHINg you think =)**  
**Thank you x**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

I had no idea what I was thinking when I ran through the forest aimlessly.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was chasing down some ridiculous hope that I would find a way back. A way back to how it used to be when I lived with Mom _and _Dad. Maybe I was angry, maybe I wanted to go home, _all the way_ home.

I couldn't hold my self back, before I knew it I had leant against a tree, trying to catch my breath as tears streamed down my cheeks.

Within seconds Dimitri darted through the undergrowth and reached me.

"Roza." He breathed, stepping closer.

Anger boiled through me again and I reached for Dimitri, grabbing the front of his shirt in my fists. He stared at me, taken aback, horror in his beautiful eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded of him, tugging at the material of his shirt.

My eyes were going watery with the tears that were threatening to spill over and join the rest.

"Why didn't you ever tell me I died!" I demanded again. "Or that we could never be together?"

I couldn't control myself, I started smashing my fists against his chest as hard as I could in this state of depression, which probably wasn't that hard, but I didn't care, the anger and pain that had taken me over was unbearable. Louder sobs broke out of my raw throat as I tried to hit him harder. He just stood there taking the blows.

"Why?" I screamed, looking up at his face still delivering my strongest blows to his chest.

His eyes were watering and I was almost certain that it wasn't from physical pain. Why wouldn't he answer me?

"Dimitri." I groaned, my fists slowing and the pain took over most of my anger. I hated crying, I rarely did it and it made me feel weak. I didn't want him to think of me as weak.

He reached out and wrapped his arms around me. I struggled against his grip, I never thought I'd push him away from me when he held me.

It was a natural instinct to shy away from pain, so your best attempt at balancing it out is to be angry. Eventually I couldn't fight any more, his arms wound tighter around me as I shook from the pain that was in my heart, listening to his beat steadily. His breathing was ragged and strained and I felt a light pressure on the top of my head as he kissed my hair and pressed the side of my face against his chest. He exhaled deeply as I clutched at his shirt and wept more. His shirt was already damp with the result of my pain.

I clutched harder for another moment before pulling my face back to look at him, his hands still held me against him but loosened a bit to let me look at him. He looked down at me, his eyes glassy, his lashes matted with dampness. He drew his face closer to mine and kissed my cheek where a tear had fallen after all the rest then lifted one hand up to my face to gently wipe over my cheekbone with his thumb. I stared up into his eyes.

I had to swallow back the sobs trying to leak out of my mouth. I had never meant to hurt him. I was certain I hadn't hurt him physically, but mentally - mentally I had broken him.

"Roza." He whispered, his voice shaking as I saw the conflict in his eyes, he was fighting to keep control and stay strong in front of me. "I'm so sorry" He closed his eyes as if he were ashamed.

I flinched, I had caused all of this by overreacting. So typical me.

I clutched at his shirt, gentler this time as I kissed his cheek softly as he had kissed mine.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked in a whisper.

He opened his eyes, they were blood shot and still glassy, the pain like a stab at my heart. I felt his arms wind back around me again as he shook slightly.

"I wanted to." He shook his head slightly, as he smiled warily without humour. "God, Roza, you have to believe I did." He gauged my expression, debating whether he should continue. As he moved his hands to hold my face it must of given something away and he decided to.

"It was just… to hard to say. Do you think I wanted to be the one to tell you that you had died? That you had your memory erased?" His eyes darted from each of mine.

"But…the Guardian thing?" I whispered.

"I knew it would make you not even consider training. And I know that would hurt you. I could never hurt you."

I couldn't hold back the smile that spread across my lips at his words. I released his shirt and moved my hands to hold his face as well, a smile played at the corners of his mouth.

He tilted his head forward to rest his forehead against mine as he stroked my cheeks lightly with his thumbs. He tilted his head slightly again so that his warm lips brushed mine. He swallowed loudly and pulled back a little to run his finger over my trembling lips.

"What's the matter, Roza?" He asked warily.

"You've already agreed to train me, Alberta too." I paused, catching my breath before the rest poured out. "So it's set in stone. And I can never be with you." My lips trembled harder as my eyes prickled with tears to come, how were there even any left?

"Roza. It will all work out. I thought that maybe I could stop it before it even really began. But it _has _began, more than began, and there is no hope of stopping it now." He said as his eyes lit up. "We will be together."

My blissful grin was stamped out as I crushed my lips to his. I think my abruptness shocked him because he froze, his fingers trembling near the ear he had just brushed my hair behind. Before I could feel the rejection, with a loud exhale of breath he had been holding, his hand knotted through the hair behind my ear. His other hand skimmed along the waist band of my jeans to hook his fingers through one of the belt loops, drawing me up against his chest. We kissed as if we were about to die, desperate and urgent. When I reluctantly had to break free to breath, he didn't run his lips along my jaw and neck like I expected, instead he smiled at me smugly.

I smiled back, though mine lacked the humour because the joy took up all the space for emotion.

"What?" I laughed nervously when he continued to stare.

His smile turned less cocky and more loving as he inspected every inch of my face. "I just think it's strange." He focussed his eyes on where he twirled my hair around his index finger. "But then when are you anything but?"

The way he talked was almost reminiscent. When I didn't reply, he looked in my eyes, me giving him an expectant look.

"You are more worried about us not being together," he wound his arms around my waist and pressed his face to my neck. "Than the fact that you died."

If it had been anyone but Dimitri that had said that, I probably would have smacked them one. But it was typical Dimitri-style to be able to say something insensitive and make it sound like the most affectionate comment in the world.

"I'm alive now." I pulled back to cup his face in my hands gently, his light stubble rasping on my palms in a way that was almost seductive. "That's all that matters."

"You are." He whispered, kissing me slowly, but so soft I barely felt it. "Let's go to bed."

As we walked back to my dorm, I was relieved that I wouldn't have to go a night without him in my bed when he could be.

_I'm so sorry, I had no idea._ I heard Lissa's voice in my head just as we were sneaking up the stairs. I wished the bond went both ways so I could assure her I wasn't mad, but it could wait, I wasn't wasting Dimitri-time.

We got to my room, and Dimitri being the gentleman -I wished he'd stop overdoing- he is, turned to let me have privacy when changing. I didn't want privacy and sure as hell didn't give him any when he pealed his shirt and jeans off.

After ogling him, I slid into my bed, scooting over close to the wall to give him room.

He came over and pulled up the blankets as he followed me in.

I stared at him staying completely still. Not because I didn't want him to be there, but because I was so overly happy that he was going to be.

"Do you mind if I…?" he paused and asked hesitantly because of my reaction, I suppose.

"I thought it was established that I wanted you in my bed, comrade." I replied, smiling and moving my head over so he could rest part of his head on the pillow as well.

I shivered slightly, just enough for him to notice. He gently moved his arm underneath me and hugged me closer to his side while tucking the blankets in around us, the desired effect. I nestled my way into his side and shut my eyes with a large smile. I would sleep soundly tonight.

Dimitri stroked my forehead with his free hand then kissed the top of my head, "Goodnight, my Roza. I'm so sorry."

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**Thank you for reading! Well it's off to live the teenage dream at Pauanui for me now =D Please review!  
Merry Christmas!  
Have an awesome New Year! xx**


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